You shouldn't have done that
by Kagaminelover657
Summary: "You are really starting to annoy me! Just tell me what you want from me!" "Talk nicely to me and then I'll tell you" "How do I know you won't go against your word?" "I can be trustworthy; however it all depends on how you react towards me" "Stop talking in riddles! ...YOU'RE NOT BEN! YOU ARE JUST CLEVERBOT!" "You shouldn't have done that Emily… You shouldn't have done that…"
1. Chapter 1: BEN sees all

Well hi there readers! I'm sort of new to this area of fanfiction for "BEN Drowned"! You can probably tell anyway that this is my first fanfiction for it. Since this is my first time could you please be a bit easy on me if you want to criticise it? Anyway, I got the inspiration from another fanfiction which was called "ThereIsBeautyInYourSuffering" that I read the other day. I'm glad I found another fanfiction based off how I see BEN himself. The fanfiction talks about how he may be reaching out for help and there is a reason for him acting the way he is. That is how I see BEN. I feel sympathy for him rather than sort of hate him. So, I decided to do my own fanfiction based on this thought using eight OC's! (That's quite a lot that I've used in one story! Especially as main characters!). So, without further ado I present to you chapter 1 of "You shouldn't have done that..."! Enjoy! :-)

Disclaimer: I do not own "BEN Drowned" (Otherwise I wouldn't be on here! Lol!); however I do own the eight OC's used in this fanfiction!

A/N: All bold writing either indicates a conversation between one of the OC's and BEN on Cleverbot or showing whose point of view this is being talked from.

* * *

Chapter 1: BEN sees all

**Emily's POV**

I can never understand what is up with me when it comes to supernatural stuff. It always has interested me yet I sometimes scare myself stupid. This time was no exception. I'm sure you've all heard of the haunted N64 game cartridge of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask with the entity known as "BEN" in it. And I'm sure you know of the guy known by his Youtube account name as Jadusable who got hold of this cartridge and had certain things happen to him while he played it and slept. This is what I was investigating. It turned out in the end that it was all just a game that this person had created; although it had piqued my interest.

The game has now got to the point where people must work out certain clues in order to stop BEN and destroy him once and for all on the internet. There have been certain times where people have disappeared who have given these clues to help the players stop him. So far no one has actually put an end to it yet… I too am looking up this game but I am not actually playing it using the websites put up for it.

You see, I'm gathering information from what people have already discovered and what it says on Wiki and Youtube. I have decided not to play the actual game but try to keep track of certain things going on. In a way, I am a bit addicted to this I must admit! My friends have noticed this since I'm frequently on my phone at school searching the internet for information. I have told them about the game and some of them find it interesting. Others don't find it interesting though. I don't mind! We all have our individual preferences anyway! That's what makes us unique. There was a reason why I avoided these sites though. The reason is stupid yet I continue to use it as an excuse for myself…

I believe that BEN is real even though the creator of the game has admitted that it isn't a real story. See, I told you it was stupid! Since I believe BEN is real, I have avoided these sites in fear that he might find a way onto my laptop. I'm being ridiculous, aren't I? That's what I thought; however it turned out that my little gut instinct was in fact right one night when I was sitting at my laptop…

* * *

It was 10o'clock at night. I was sitting there at my laptop trying to find any useful information I could about stopping BEN. Suddenly a tab opened up with "Cleverbot" on it. Cleverbot had said:

**Cleverbot: Hello**

I froze. This couldn't be possible! That can't be who I think it is! I haven't put any information on my laptop related to the game and have left the sites alone that could possibly harness him there! I pondered, wondering whether I should reply or not.

**Cleverbot: I know you're there Emily… You can't escape from me…**

**Me: How do you know my name?**

**Cleverbot: I know everything. I am BEN.**

**Me: You are not BEN. You are Cleverbot.**

**Cleverbot: I am BEN, Emily. **

**Me: Yeah, and I'm some undercover millionaire pretending to be a sixteen year old girl! The joke's not funny! I'm not fooled! **

**Cleverbot: You shouldn't have done that…**

**Me: You are not BEN. BEN doesn't exist.**

**Cleverbot: You do not believe that I exist?**

**Me: No. I am not fooled. I have spoken to you plenty of times before. **

**Cleverbot: I know what you have been doing Emily…**

**Me: Oh really? Then tell me this: Exactly twenty minutes ago, what was I doing?**

**Cleverbot: You were sitting on your bed listening to your music.**

My eyes widened. H-How did this thing know? Cleverbot never makes sense yet this sounds like a conversation similar to Jadusable's. Could this mean that this thing really is…?

**Me: H-How did you know that?**

**Cleverbot: I can see everything Emily. I told you. You can't escape from me…**

**Me: What do you want?**

**Cleverbot: I know you have been researching about me. You have been avoiding certain sites in fear that I may get onto your laptop, haven't you? These websites are things such as Within Hubris and others.**

**Me: Ok, that's it! Cleverbot, stop messing with me! You are not BEN!**

**Cleverbot: I already told you. I am BEN.**

**Me: What do you want?**

**Cleverbot: Now if I revealed that then it would ruin the ending…**

**Me: What are you talking about?**

**Cleverbot: You are afraid of me, aren't you?**

**Me: Don't avoid my question BEN!**

**Cleverbot: Then don't avoid mine…**

My hands began to tremble violently. I was starting to feel quite sick. T-This can't be BEN! He's not real!

**Cleverbot: You are hesitating. You are afraid of me, aren't you?**

**Me: Ha! That's ridiculous! Of course I'm not!**

**Cleverbot: Honesty is always the best policy.**

**Me: What?**

**Cleverbot: You can't escape me Emily… I see everything… I know what you are doing. You can't avoid me.**

**Me: Leave me alone you creep! I don't know what the heck you're doing but if this is some kind of freaky joke then drop it!**

**Cleverbot: I already told you. I am BEN. I am inside your laptop.**

**Me: Ha! Don't make me laugh! How are you inside my laptop?**

**Cleverbot: I'll show you…**

My screen suddenly went black. I shrieked. How did it do that? My screen suddenly turned back on again.

**Cleverbot: Believe me now?**

**Me: I'm still not convinced! My laptop might have a virus or something.**

**Cleverbot: Tell me about yourself.**

**Me: Huh?**

**Cleverbot: Tell me about yourself.**

**Me: Why?**

**Cleverbot: I want to know more about you.**

**Me: Why should I? **

**Cleverbot: This is only the beginning…**

**Me: Stop talking in riddles! Leave me alone, creep!**

**Cleverbot: You shouldn't have done that…**

The window suddenly closed. I sat back in my seat confused. What the heck just happened? There is no way that was BEN! I shouldn't really be freaking out, should I? It's just a game! BEN isn't real! I decided to log off and not touch my laptop for the rest of the night. I'm tired anyway. I want to get some sleep before school tomorrow.

* * *

**Alice's POV**

During the next day at school, our group of friends sat around our usual table in the school canteen chatting away as normal. I glanced towards Emily from time to time and noticed she seemed to be lost in thought. This was a bit unusual since she was always looking at her phone searching for information on BEN. I found this quite odd and wondered what was wrong. Emily was never one to talk much at lunch anyway. It was in her nature to be quite quiet at times. That was part of her personality. Yet now she hasn't said a word whatsoever. I'm starting to worry about her a little bit and I'm sure the others are as well.

"Emily, are you all right?"

I saw Emily jump slightly at the sound of my voice. She turned to face me and seemed to force a smile.

"Yeah sure I'm fine. Er… I've got to go talk to Miss Guy about something so I'll see you lot later"

I watched Emily quickly grab her stuff and speed walk out the canteen.

"Hey, have you guys noticed Emily has been acting a bit weird today?" I asked the others once I knew she was definitely out of earshot.

"Yeah, she has seemed to be quite deep in thought today…" Charlie commented.

"Do you think this whole "BEN drowned" thing has got her spooked?" Ellie questioned.

"If it had then why is she still researching it?" Victoria asked. "Wouldn't she have stopped if it was scaring her?

"Perhaps she's found a clue and is just trying to work it out" Megan suggested.

"How do we know that she isn't thinking about something else…?" Hannah commented while doing shifty eyes.

Victoria raised an eyebrow.

"This isn't the time for jokes, Hannah"

"Hannah's theory could be true as well you know" Charlotte agreed. "She could be thinking about other things! I think both Megan and Hannah are more or less close. Perhaps there is just something bugging her and she can't stop thinking about it until she solves it!"

"Yeah, Charley's explanation seems to fit it" Charlie added.

"I don't know guys. I feel like something is up with her"

"Don't worry about it Alice!" Megan assured. "If there was something wrong then I'm sure she would tell us"

"Yeah, I think it might be best to just leave it for now" Ellie suggested. "It might be better for her if we leave her to work it out on her own"

I nodded understandingly. Charlie then began to talk about something completely irrelevant to the previous conversation. I couldn't help but shake the feeling, no matter how hard the others had tried to reassure me, that there was something really badly bothering Emily and it was somehow related to BEN. And it wasn't in a good way…

* * *

**Emily's POV**

It has been a week since BEN had last contacted me. I could not stop thinking about the conversation that I had with him before. I was terrified. I am admitting that now but I will never admit it to him! I still had a small feeling that it was just a malfunction with Cleverbot. For the first couple of days I did not go anyway near my laptop. I was too scared! However, I did eventually muster up the courage to since I got sick of using my phone for the internet (It was wasting most of my battery!). So far nothing appears to have happened yet and BEN has not tried to communicate with me; however I fear he might do soon…

I just couldn't understand it! Why come after me, when there are loads of people doing the exact same thing? Loads of people worldwide are trying to put a stop to BEN and yet he picks on me! Me, of all people! I have continued to do research on my phone and have not since done any on my laptop; just in case it draws him back. I fear that this peace will not last for much longer…

I was scrolling through fanfiction bored out of my brain at the same time as I usually am on the laptop at night. I could feel myself slowly closing my eyes. I was tired. I was just about to log off the laptop when a window suddenly popped up again. Cleverbot had come up. I gulped loudly.

**Cleverbot: Hello again Emily. I have noticed you have been avoiding your laptop for some time now… Do you believe that I exist now?**

**Me: Ha! Of course I don't! I haven't been on my laptop for a bit because I was waiting for Norton to wipe off the viruses!**

**Cleverbot: Honesty is always the best policy.**

**Me: Please stop talking in riddles!**

**Cleverbot: Why should I? It is fun to watch you get irritated.**

**Me: Fun?**

**Cleverbot: Yes, fun. It is quite amusing. **

**Me: You find my anger funny?**

**Cleverbot: Of course.**

**Me: You seriously don't know who you're messing with… Now tell me who you really are!**

**Cleverbot: I am BEN.**

**Me: You are not BEN! BEN doesn't exist! He's a made up character from a story created by Jadusable! **

**Cleverbot: Ah, I see you know Jadusable too.**

**Me: Well, I don't actually know him in person. He's quite famous on the internet.**

**Cleverbot: And yet you continue to do what he did…**

**Me: What do you mean?**

**Cleverbot: You should know what I mean.**

**Me: But I don't.**

**Cleverbot: You are afraid of me, aren't you?**

**Me: We have already been through this… I am not afraid of you. I just find you nothing more than an annoyance.**

**Cleverbot: Honesty is always the best policy.**

**Me: What do you want from me?**

**Cleverbot: I cannot reveal that…**

**Me: Why?**

**Cleverbot: The answer to that question is for another.**

**Me: Another what?**

**Cleverbot: Another person who asks.**

**Me: Why are you tormenting me? There are loads of people, including Jadusable, who are doing the exact same thing and yet you come after me!**

**Cleverbot: You are special.**

**Me: Special how?**

**Cleverbot: You are more cautious than others when researching information. You have a very complex way of getting to the bottom of things.**

**Me: And?**

**Cleverbot: That is what makes you special.**

**Me: All right then, if you really are BEN then how did BEN drown?**

**Cleverbot: I cannot tell you.**

**Me: Why?**

**Cleverbot: That is something you need to work out for yourself.**

**Me: I can't work it out! I don't know much about BEN!**

**Cleverbot: You have already come across the answer once. **

**Me: You are really starting to annoy me! Just tell me what you want from me!**

**Cleverbot: Talk nicely to me and then I'll tell you.**

**Me: How do I know you won't go against your word?**

**Cleverbot: I can be trustworthy; however it all depends on how you react towards me.**

**Me: Stop talking in riddles! Actually, just leave me alone! All you are is an annoyance! I don't need you teasing with me and messing with my head! You're not real! YOU'RE NOT BEN! YOU ARE JUST CLEVERBOT!**

**Cleverbot: You shouldn't have done that Emily… You shouldn't have done that…**

And then the window closed. My hands began to tremble as they hovered above the keyboard. My eyes widened in fear. My heart began pounding rigorously against my rib cage. A nasty chill travelled down my spine. What have I just done?

* * *

**Charlie's POV**

Ok, I have to admit. What Alice had said a while ago about Emily seems to be true. This can't be her trying to work something out! For most of the day she has been staring blankly into space. Emily hasn't spoken. Sure, she can still move about but she hasn't said a word. She almost looks hypnotised! Something has been going on that has worried Emily deeply. And I'm gonna try to get to the bottom of this! Time to do some interrogating!

It was Period four on a Friday and as usual we were completing coursework. There were four of us sitting around a circular desk typing away on the school laptops. I noticed Emily was shaking a little as she typed away on her laptop. I wonder… It has to be something to do with this "BEN Drowned" game! Emily does all her research on her laptop as well as her phone. Maybe she saw something or read something that frightened her. I noticed her occasionally glance down towards her lap and halt with her typing. Hm, what is she up to? Emily was sat on my right at the table. Charlotte was sat on my left and Victoria was sat at a diagonal angle next to her (The top of the circle was attached to a rectangle desk).

"Hey Emily, whatcha doing?" I asked in a friendly tone.

Emily seemed to jump slightly at my voice and face me. She gave me a small smile. I know she is forcing it…

"I'm just doing coursework"

Her voice sounded slightly timid. She's lying… I glanced down towards her lap and saw a small notebook opened. Is she typing the contents of it onto the laptop?

"If you're doing coursework then why is there a notebook open on your lap?"

I raised my eyebrow. Emily gulped. Aha! I've got her now!

"They are just notes" She replied plainly.

"Just give it up Emily. We all know you are acting strangely. There is something going on. It's about "BEN Drowned" isn't it?" Charlotte added.

Well, I didn't realise those two were listening in on my interrogation session! Ha! Emily's eyes widened at the mention of the game. It has to be it! Her reaction just proves this further!

"No it isn't. It has nothing to do with the game" Emily mumbled.

"Then why are you so quiet lately?" Victoria questioned, suspiciously.

I leaned over to try to glance at her laptop screen; however she quickly minimized the window she was on.

"There is nothing going on and it has nothing to do with the game" She answered with slight annoyance in her voice. "Now can I please be left alone?"

Charlotte and Victoria turned back to their own laptops. So did I but I continued to watch Emily out of the corner of my eye. As soon as Emily had gone to the next classroom to retrieve her printed coursework (the printer in ours is broken), I glanced over towards her laptop. All I saw was her coursework on the screen. There were no other tabs on the bar on the bottom of the screen. I glanced into her bag to find the notebook was missing. Damn it! She took it with her! I'm not one to be nosy and poke my nose into things that might not concern me but, this time was important. There was something Emily was keeping quiet about and all we want to do is help her! Why won't she tell us?

"Hey Charlie, did you manage to find anything?" Victoria asked.

"No. Emily has taken the notebook with her and closed any internet feed that has the information from the notebook… I'm really starting to worry about her, you know. It has to be that "BEN Drowned" game"

"I know. Her reaction to the game was as clear as a sunny day" Charlotte commented. "It's obvious that it has something to do with it!"

"I think the notes in that notebook were about her research" Victoria added. "I'm sure that whatever her reason is for doing this at school, it is a reason that involves her being spooked by something"

"Do you think BEN has contacted her through Cleverbot like he apparently did with that Jadusable person?" I asked.

The other two just laughed.

"Charlie, that's ridiculous!" Charlotte replied, still laughing. "BEN isn't real!"

"He could be!" I protested. "You never know… He could be under the table right now, slowly creeping towards you…"

Very discreetly, I poked Charlotte's hand. I watched as she jumped in fright, shrieking a little. Victoria and I both burst out laughing. Charlotte frowned towards us both. We got a few puzzled glances from other members of the class. We didn't care! Scaring Charlotte is hilarious!

"That was not funny!" Charlotte cried annoyed.

"For us it was!" Victoria teased.

Charlotte just narrowed her eyes towards her as a response. We stopped our conversation when Emily returned and I made up something about Batman so that she thought that is what we were discussing. The question I asked was something I suspected. For some reason, I had this strange feeling that it was BEN haunting Emily and that she was trying to hide her research so that BEN didn't find it… Why I thought this I don't know but it seemed like the only logical explanation for the continuation of her weird behaviour.

* * *

**Emily's POV**

What I had been doing at school today was all for a very good reason. I couldn't let my friends find out about it yet. Not until my suspicions of what BEN was planning for me was correct. In my notebook, unbeknownst to the others, is where I have been writing down all my research, my theories and the two conversations between me and BEN. I have typed this up on the school's laptops so that BEN doesn't know what I'm doing. I have sent this information through Hotmail from the school's laptops to all seven of my friends so that they have it. I have also written them a small message explaining what has happened and what is going on. I have done this so that BEN doesn't realise what I have asked them to do. I fear that BEN will come after me soon and I cannot let him win. There is another reason as to why he has contacted me. I must get to the bottom of this, even if it means me disappearing just like some of the members of the Moon Children cult.

I waited. I waited patiently in front of my laptop for BEN to contact me that night. I knew something was going to happen to me but I didn't care. I wouldn't put up much of a fight. I'm reassured knowing that my friends can accomplish this. They can stop BEN from outside his world. I will try to stop him from inside his world. BEN will make me disappear. He has stated at the end of the two conversations that we have had "you shouldn't have done that…" as a warning. I know in the last conversation I had pushed him over the limit and now he wants revenge; however he doesn't realise that this is all part of my plan. I'm leading him into a trap. If I can get inside his world, I can find out the truth. I can find out if I can reason with him rather than destroy him and find out what really happened to him. I don't hate BEN. I feel sympathy for him. I believe he is just lonely and is seeking revenge on the person who drowned him. I'm sure his death wasn't suicidal… Suddenly the Cleverbot window opened.

**Cleverbot: Hello Emily. Are you ready to play with me?**

* * *

I was surprised I finished on a cliffhanger! Lol! Anyway, please read and review this fanfiction if you have anything to say about the story! Much appreciated! :-)


	2. Chapter 2: What should we do now?

Finally I have completed chapter 2! It took me a while to get ideas but I managed it. Thank you to those who have reviewed this Fanfiction! I really appreciate it! Enjoy this next chapter! :-)

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Chapter 2: What should we do now?

**Me: What do you mean by that?**

**Cleverbot: You have a suspicion as to what I mean, don't you?**

**Me: Yes.**

**Cleverbot: What is it?**

**Me: Are you going to make me disappear? Just like you did with some of the members of the Moon Children cult?**

**Cleverbot: Yes and no.**

**Me: BEN, this isn't the time for riddles. I'm finally being honest with you. Why can't you be honest with me?**

**Cleverbot: Ah, so you are finally addressing my existence…**

**Me: Don't avoid my question BEN.**

**Cleverbot: It is fun to watch.**

**Me: Fun to watch what?**

**Cleverbot: Fun to watch you get irritated.**

**Me: Well you shouldn't find it fun because if you weren't inside my laptop right now…**

**Cleverbot: You hesitated with that reply. You are afraid of me, aren't you?**

**Me: I've told you already. I am not afraid of you.**

**Cleverbot: What happened to being honest with me?**

**Me: I am being honest.**

**Cleverbot: Honesty is always the best policy.**

**Me: Enough with the riddles BEN. Are you going to make me disappear?**

**Cleverbot: Yes and no.**

**Me: Stop talking in riddles!**

**Cleverbot: Someone has a temper…**

**Me: Don't mess with me BEN! What happened to the Moon Children?**

**Cleverbot: I cannot reveal that.**

**Me: Why?**

**Cleverbot: The answer to that is for another.**

**Me: Another what?**

**Cleverbot: Another person who asks.**

I slammed my fist against the desk angrily. Why do I keep falling for his riddles? He repeats the same ones over and over! Right, I need to keep my guard up!

**Cleverbot: Play with me?**

**Me: What's the catch?**

**Cleverbot: There is no catch…**

**Me: There is. You've put ellipses at the end of that sentence! There is a catch, right?**

**Cleverbot: Yes and no.**

**Me: Stop toying with my head BEN!**

**Cleverbot: It is fun to watch you suffer.**

**Me: Well you may find it fun but I don't! Stop it now!**

**Cleverbot: Watch what you put Emily… You don't know what trouble you will get yourself into…**

**Me: Oh I have a pretty good idea of what trouble I'm getting myself into!**

**Cleverbot: And yet you continue to lead yourself towards the same fate as Jadusable…**

**Me: You made Jadusable disappear?**

**Cleverbot: Yes and no.**

**Me: BEN, what the hell do you want from me?**

**Cleverbot: If I told you that it would spoil the ending…**

**Me: What ending?**

**Cleverbot: Play with me.**

**Me: No.**

**Cleverbot: Play with me.**

**Me: No!**

**Cleverbot: Why do you refuse?**

**Me: I prefer me and you separated by a screen than me being face to face with you! Plus, you could be leading me into a trap!**

**Cleverbot: You seem much more intelligent than I thought…**

Has he just revealed something he shouldn't have?

**Me: What?**

**Cleverbot: What?**

**Me: You just revealed something you shouldn't have!**

**Cleverbot: I don't know what you mean.**

**Me: Don't play stupid games with me BEN! I know what you just said was something you didn't want revealed!**

**Cleverbot: Last time I am going to ask you Emily…**

**Me: You didn't ask me. You ordered it.**

**Cleverbot: Play with me.**

**Me: NO! I'M STAYING RIGHT HERE AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!**

**Cleverbot: You shouldn't have done that…**

The lights in my room suddenly switched off. Drat, has he got to the power as well? The only thing that remained on was my laptop. All the windows that I had open on my laptop closed, except for the Cleverbot one.

**Me: BEN, what are you doing?**

There was no reply. I gulped. What was he doing? Suddenly the background on my laptop changed to the Elegy of Emptiness statue. I began to shake violently. What was he up to?

**Me: Don't ignore me BEN! What are you doing?**

There was still no reply. Suddenly I heard music being played faintly. It sounded like… Oh no! That's the song of unhealing! I stared into the blank, expressionless eyes of the statue. Big mistake! My mind started to spin and my vision blurred. I tried to reach the keyboard in an attempt to contact him again; however my mind was so dizzy that I couldn't focus properly.

_I warned you Emily…_

That voice… It sounds like a little boy's voice in my head! Is that BEN?

"BEN, what are you doing?" I questioned angrily. "Stop this nonsense now!"

_You could have just said yes Emily… It would have prevented all of this drama…_

"Stop it… BEN… Jus… St… I… Now…"

My words weren't coming out properly. I was starting to black out. I could feel my body weakening. How is he doing this? Is he controlling me? Is he shutting down my brain?

_There is beauty in your suffering…_

"B… EN…"

My eye lids slowly began to close. I was losing the fight. I heard an evil laugh sound throughout the room. Is that the happy mask salesman? My vision turned black and my mind closed down…

* * *

**Charlotte's POV**

Emily hadn't turned up to school at all yesterday. After the weekend had ended it was said that apparently she didn't feel well so she never came into school. That is the same for today too. I don't believe this to be true. It is somehow related to her weird behaviour, I just know it! It's this "BEN Drowned" malarkey! And yes I said "malarkey"! I don't care if isn't being said anymore! I'll just happily say it so there!

Anyway, it was now Tuesday. Me, Charlie and Ellie were bored to death in ICT since we had finally completed every single piece of work our teacher had thrown at us (not literally of course!). The three of us were messing about on Hotmail. I hadn't been on there for a while and so I was scrolling through tons of emails I'd received. I had at least fifty in there! So far I've only managed to get through about ten of them. I can't even be bothered to read them so yeah… I'm just skimming through them!

"Hey, Charley have you read a message sent by Emily yet?" Ellie asked.

I could tell there was a slight trace of concern in her voice.

"Erm… No not yet. Why?"

"You need to read it. I think she's finally come out with why she's been acting weirdly lately…"

I scrolled through my inbox until I finally found an unread message from Emily. I glanced at the subject title of the email: "Take care and be careful…" What does she mean by that? I opened the email and found three attached files. They were labelled as my theories, my research so far and mine and BEN's two conversations. This just gets even weirder… That was when I saw the message within the email. Maybe that might explain what Emily is up to! I began to read it:

"_By the time you guys have received this email, I would have probably disappeared. I know it sounds insane but it's quite true. I know you have all been confused by the way I've acted over the last two weeks and have been worried. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you guys sooner but my suspicions had to be confirmed before you lot could know. I shall now explain what is going on and what I have attached to this email._

_BEN has contacted me. He talked to me over Cleverbot two weeks ago. I have had two conversations with him and managed to anger him somehow. He threatened me in the last conversation with a warning. This warning means he's going to get his revenge, probably by making me disappear. He has done this to some of the Moon Children cult and to Jadusable. He knows what I have been doing. I wasn't going to let him get the better of me! This is probably what has led him to be quite frustrated with me… These two conversations are also the reason why I have been acting so strangely. I have been scared in case he does something to me. I kept quiet so that you guys didn't know. I thought it would be better for you guys to not know. I didn't want to worry you._

_Now I am going to explain what is attached to the email. I had a brainstorm after my last conversation with BEN. I thought that even if I can't continue my research to stop him if he manages to get hold of me, that doesn't mean I can't stop him another way. If he made me disappear then I would probably end up in his world where he is more susceptible for me to find answers. Of course I don't have all the answers. I don't know how I will get into BEN's world or out of it. I thought that you guys might be able to help me. The things I have attached are resources to help you stop BEN. He is growing stronger and stronger by the minute and I can't fight him alone. You lot don't have to help me. I'd rather not involve you in case BEN finds out what I've planned; however the decision is up to you. The resources attached are my research so far, my last two conversations with BEN and my theories about him so far. These may come in useful to you if you want to help me. Again you all have a choice. I'd rather you keep out of it since BEN is starting to become intelligent and could possibly wipe off any person trying to stop him._

_I don't know what will happen after this point but if I do disappear then I will give you guys a warning. BEN sees everything. He might find you. If you do try to find research about him then be careful. Be discreet. Try to do research on the laptops at school and avoid sites like Within Hubris. Use Wiki and Youtube. They provide most of the answers. Also try to do research on your phones. If Cleverbot comes up at any time and starts to talk to you turn off the laptop immediately and don't touch it for a while. BEN could have managed to get onto your laptop and will mess with certain things; however as long as the laptop stays off then he shouldn't be able to do anything whatsoever. If you want to talk to him to get answers then be careful about what you put so you don't anger him. Watch out for his riddles. BEN speaks in riddles and he may get you to reveal something which shouldn't be revealed. Read what he says carefully and pretend to act clueless. He shouldn't realise what you're trying to do then._

_All I can do is wish you lot good luck from your end. I'll try to fight him from mine and reason with him. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I know you guys can do it. Focus mainly on trying to find a way into his world and then back out again. Good luck"_

I stared at the screen for a few more moments in shock. What the hell did I just read! I glanced towards Charlie and Ellie who stared at me with concern.

"I think we need to talk to the others at lunch" Charlie stated, seriously.

* * *

We met up with the others when lunch finally came in the canteen around our usual table.

"Did you guys receive the email from Emily?" I asked.

"Yeah, Alice, Vikki and I read it during ICT" Megan answered.

"I did too" Hannah added. "Do you think she is trying to pull the wool over our eyes or something?"

"Well Hannah we all know that Emily never lies about anything…" Alice replied slyly, doing a very noticeable wink.

"Guys, this is serious!" Victoria cried. "We've all had a small inkling that it has something to do with this "BEN Drowned" game. Me, Charlie and Charley found out during Business last week that it was when Emily had a weird reaction to the mention of the game. I don't think she would make something up like this. Charlie, your question seemed to be right on the money"

"I wish I hadn't laughed at it now…" I mumbled. "But then again, at the time it sounded stupid! Even Emily said that BEN didn't exist and yet now she is telling us that he has got in contact with her!"

"It does all seem to fit the situation" Ellie agreed. "And yet now there is a possibility that Emily has disappeared because of BEN"

"Well we all know that "BEN" is an expert at making people disappear…" Charlie added slyly.

I raised an eyebrow towards her. She stared at me completely innocent.

"It is true, you know!"

"Charlie, we are not talking about the BEN you're thinking of" Victoria replied.

"I know, but I'm just trying to lighten the mood a bit! Alice was too with her joke!"

"The problem here is that all of this seems really serious" Megan replied. "Emily isn't the type of person to go making up a stupid story like this. I have checked the files she has attached. She has sent conversations between her and BEN. They seem realistic enough"

"Well, I agree with Megan" Hannah agreed. "It doesn't seem right for Emily to be all quiet and then suddenly make up a story about her disappearing, right?"

We all nodded in agreement.

"So what do we do now then?" I asked. "If Emily has disappeared, should we do what she says? I mean, she did give us the choice"

"Well, why wouldn't we help her?" Ellie asked. "She is our friend after all. We'd all do the same if anyone of us had this happen too"

"I agree with Ellie" Alice added. "She is our friend. And she did say she isn't leaving all the work to us. She mentioned something about reasoning with BEN, so I think she is going to try to find answers wherever BEN has taken her"

"Exactly" Hannah agreed. "I think we should look through the files Emily has attached and get an idea about what she has already found out"

"Yeah, that would be a good idea" Victoria added. "And we may have to heed her warnings as well. We can't do research on our laptops or computers at home. Either at school or on our phones"

"Well that's if the school haven't blocked any of the sites" Ellie replied. "They have blocked Youtube but I don't think Wiki is blocked"

"So, are we all in agreement to help her?" Charlie asked.

All seven of us nodded in agreement. That was when a sudden question came into thought. Where has BEN taken Emily? And is she unharmed?

* * *

**Emily's POV**

I slowly opened my eyes to find I was in complete darkness. Wait, I could be blind! BEN could have blinded me! I saw a small light come from the left of the darkness. Oh wait I'm fine! It was just dark in here! Man I am so stupid sometimes… Where am I anyway? I decided to follow the light. Perhaps that might help me realise where I am! The further I followed the beam of light, the stronger it became. I guess I must be getting closer… Eventually I reached what looked like a small window which showed my room on the other side. Wait, it's showing my room? I quickly dashed towards the window, only to find that there was something transparent blocking my way. Drat, I thought for a second there I was saved! It was too quiet in here. All I could see was darkness. Where the hell has BEN taken me?

"_Hello Emily. It is good to see you are finally awake"_

That voice! It sounds like…

"BEN, where am I? Why am I here?"

"_You are inside my world. You are here so that you don't cause any more trouble in trying to stop me"_

"So I'm guessing I was close to stopping you, then?"

There was no reply. I sighed. What the hell was the point in asking? There's no way he'll give a straight answer. I tried to scan around for the source of the voice; however all I could see was darkness.

"_Don't bother trying to look for me. You won't ever find me unless I reveal myself. I am invisible to your eyes unless I choose to reveal myself"_

I felt a cold chill brush behind me. That must have been him.

"What do you mean by your world? Am I inside the Majora's Mask Cartridge?"

"_Yes and no"_

"Please don't mess with me BEN. I am not in the mood"

"_That screen that you see there allows me to view what other people are doing. That is how I found out about what you were doing in the first place"_

I sat down on the ground and wrapped my arms around my legs. It was obvious that there was no one else here but me. I knew Jadusable and the Moon Children wouldn't be here either. I felt the cold chill hovering above my shoulder.

"_Why is there sadness in your eyes?"_

"Why would you care? You like to torture me and make me suffer. You said it yourself: There is beauty in your suffering"

"_There is a reason why I am doing this. You should know the answer as to why"_

The chill suddenly disappeared.

"BEN, are you still there?"

There was no reply. He must have gone then. I wonder… The last thing he just said was a clue, right? Is he doing this because he needs help or is he just toying with me? I lay down on the ground in front of the window on my back and stared up at the darkness. I wonder what my friends are doing now…

* * *

**Hannah's POV**

I started going through the documents that Emily had attached to the email at home on my laptop. I began skimming through her research from what she had found out so far. The story went that a young college student in America got this N64 game console from his friend. He went to the nearby neighbourhood away from his college to find games from their car boot sales. He reached the last house to find an old man blind in one eye with a stall. He sold him a game cartridge of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. When he went to play the game it turned out there was already a saved file there named BEN.

Out of respect for the original player, he kept the game file and started a new one; however when glitches occurred, he deleted the game file. After that, strange things started happening to him in the game and BEN managed to get onto his laptop and talk to him. He eventually managed to get onto the internet. The college student set up videos and clues to help people stop BEN and that is how the game was formed. No wonder Emily was so interested in it… Well games are something she's interested in so… yeah that explains it.

I looked over the two conversations Emily had with BEN. I could see why she was so freaked out by it. He seems very creepy… I can see why Emily kept calling him a creep! Why he likes to torment people I don't know! Unless of course he's the BEN I'm thinking of… Nah! Perhaps they are just similar! What I couldn't understand was this part of the second conversation:

**Emily: All right then, if you really are BEN then how did BEN drown?**

**Cleverbot: I cannot tell you.**

**Emily: Why?**

**Cleverbot: That is something you need to work out for yourself.**

**Emily: I can't work it out! I don't know much about BEN!**

**Cleverbot: You have already come across the answer once. **

Emily must have known after he said that she had the answer already. Looking through the research I have come to a weird conclusion about the suspects involved in BEN's death. Either the Moon Children cult, the leader known as "The Father", the old man who sold the game and the entity himself. Emily had mentioned in her research that there is a theory that the entity's name isn't in fact BEN. It was taken from a young boy whom the entity drowned; although it seems that according to her theories that Emily doesn't believe this. She thinks the entity is called BEN and that he is looking for help but isn't showing it. Why would Emily feel sorry for someone who kidnapped her? In fact, why would anyone feel sorry for BEN? He's the one who keeps causing trouble and stuff! Drat, wrong BEN! I keep thinking about the other BEN! Why did these two have to have the same name?

Suddenly a window was opened up on my laptop. It came up with Cleverbot. Wait, Cleverbot! Isn't that what BEN used to talk to Emily? Cleverbot had said:

**Cleverbot: Hello Hannah.**

Oh damn, what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? Should I talk to him? If I talk to him I could end up disappearing like Emily but, if I don't I could anger him! What should I do? Wait, I have an idea! I can talk to him but put random words to confuse him!

**Me: Banana **

I waited patiently for him to reply. After five minutes he didn't. Have I scared him off?

**Cleverbot: I know you're there Hannah… You can't hide from me…**

**Me: Rabbit**

Again he didn't reply for a while. Ha! I think my plan's working!

**Me: Carrot**

**Me: Potato**

**Me: Squash**

**Cleverbot: Are you done trying to confuse me, Hannah?**

My eyes widened. How did he know what I was doing? God he is a creep!

**Me: How did you know what I was doing? And how do you know who I am?**

**Cleverbot: Haven't worked it out yet? Emily thought she outsmarted me but it seems she forgot what I told her before.**

**Me: Which was?**

**Cleverbot: That I can see everything. I know what she was up to. It was just trying to track the seven of you down that was the problem; however I have found you. You are the first one. **

**Me: Can I ask you something?**

**Cleverbot: Ask.**

**Me: Have you made Emily disappear?**

**Cleverbot: Yes and no.**

**Me: Don't start with the riddles BEN!**

**Cleverbot: Ah, ah, ah, play nice, Hannah. You don't want to end up like Emily now do you?**

**Me: Aha! See you just admitted it! You did make Emily disappear!**

**Cleverbot: I might have done. I might not have done. It depends on how you look at it.**

**Me: Seriously BEN, stop talking in riddles.**

**Cleverbot: I'm glad you did that.**

**Me: Did what?**

**Cleverbot: I'm glad you acknowledge my existence unlike Emily and Jadusable who thought it was a prank.**

**Me: Jadusable? Isn't that the guy who unleashed you in the first place?**

**Cleverbot: Yes.**

**Me: Is that the only question you will say yes to?**

**Cleverbot: Yes and no.**

**Me: BEN, stop sending me around in circles!**

**Cleverbot: Why should I? It is amusing.**

**Me: What's amusing?**

**Cleverbot: It is amusing to watch you get irritated.**

**Me: All right BEN, what do you want from me?**

**Cleverbot: I cannot reveal that.**

**Me: Why?**

**Cleverbot: It is reserved for another.**

**Me: Another what?**

**Cleverbot: Another person who asks.**

**Me: But you asked that question with Emily and told her exactly the same thing. I'm another person to ask so therefore you should answer me! **

**Cleverbot: Logic isn't always understood.**

**Me: What?**

**Cleverbot: Tell me about yourself.**

**Me: Oh no! You're not pulling that one on me! I refuse to tell you anything!**

**Cleverbot: That just proves you are afraid of me.**

**Me: Ha! You think I'm afraid of you? Ha! That is priceless! **

**Cleverbot: I have barely begun… You have been warned…**

The window suddenly closed. Huh, that was awkward! What was BEN trying to do anyway? Was he trying to make me stop researching and give up? Well, sadly for him I'm not one to give up easily! I wonder… Can Emily see what BEN is doing?

* * *

**Emily's POV**

I watched from the window as BEN finally closed down Cleverbot. The screen turned back to the Majora's Mask game menu. Well, at least I know where I am now! Drat, how the hell did he know? And now he's found Hannah… This isn't good! If he knows about Hannah and has found her then he'll be able to track the others!

"BEN, please leave them alone! They are barely doing anything to harm you! I'm the bigger threat!"

"_They will gain the same knowledge that you did in due time. Once they do they'll be the same level of a threat as you are. I cannot allow that to happen"_

"It is my fault they have involved themselves! I'm the one who sent them the documents! BEN, just leave them alone! Don't bring them here!"

"_You gave them a choice didn't you? You gave them the choice on whether to help you or not. They have chosen to help you. They have brought this trouble upon themselves. They have chosen to accept the consequences of their actions. And don't worry I'm not going to bring them in here. I'd rather see you suffer from the silence than from your friends being stuck in here with you"_

"What are you planning to do then? What can you possibly do to them when you're stuck behind a screen?"

"_I can do a lot of things. You should remember the things that happened to Jadusable when he didn't come near the Majora's Mask Cartridge…"_

From what I remember, BEN haunted him in his dreams and did stuff to his computer. I don't think they would be affected by anything happening on their laptops but in dreams they might be, considering the dream that Jadusable had was quite gruesome…

"BEN, why are you doing this? What do you gain from torturing people and playing with their minds?"

"_The human mind is quite a complex thing. The way your kind can twist certain things and make them real is quite fascinating to say the least. You are no different. You suspected that I really existed, didn't you?"_

"Yeah, I suspected it but didn't believe it to be true. God was I wrong!"

"_That conversation with Hannah is just the beginning. You can't do anything to help them Emily. You are trapped in my world now. All you can do is watch as I make your friends suffer…"_

The evil laugh of the happy mask salesman sounded once more. The cold chill soon brushed past me.

"BEN, get back here! I'm not finished talking to you! I know you can hear me BEN! BEN!"

"_There is beauty in your suffering…"_

And then silence suddenly filled the air. He was gone. I charged towards the window and punched it angrily. I knew that no matter what I did to it wouldn't be able to break it but I had to take my anger out on something! I sat on the ground in front of it and sighed. Why didn't I take more precautions? BEN is going to make my friends suffer and there is nothing I can do to stop it! Or is there…? At the moment reasoning with BEN appears to be quite difficult. Perhaps I can try to find answers! BEN didn't say I had to sit here, did he? I'm sure somewhere in this game there is the answer to what really happened to BEN. If I can find it then I can use this window to try to contact them as soon as BEN disappears. So BEN is wrong! I can do something! I quickly leapt to my feet, brushed myself off and then dashed off into the darkness.

* * *

Please review this fanfiction if you have anything to say. Much appreciated! :-)


	3. Chapter 3: BEN is watching you

Here's the third chapter! It took me a while to do this one since there was a lot of ideas swirling around in my head. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the next installment! :-)

* * *

Chapter 3: BEN is watching you

**Victoria's POV**

It had almost been a week since we had decided to help Emily. It was a Monday and I was stuck in science with Megan. We had been told to do some research on the school's laptops for information on living organisms. Of course, Megan and I had already finished the research and instead of doing that we were looking into research on BEN using Wiki. Hannah had mentioned to us that over the weekend BEN had managed to find her. She had wrote down the conversation and showed it to us this morning. It seems Emily wasn't kidding when she said that BEN could see everything… We all tried to take more precautions to make sure that BEN didn't manage to find the rest of us; although it seems nothing we did was actually working.

Megan and I had separate laptops and were sat at the back of the classroom. We had looked over Emily's documents once more and using Hannah's theories, tried to find more information on how BEN actually drowned. Sadly, it seems not even Jadusable himself actually knows how BEN drowned; although Emily had made her own theory. Just like Hannah, she had mentioned all the people who were involved with BEN in some form or another. It turned out that Jadusable had mentioned a group of people known as the Moon Children cult, who worshipped the moon known as Luna. There was in fact a member called Ben; however there are no connections about whether this is in fact the entity BEN trapped inside the game cartridge. Even though Emily had mentioned that some of the Moon Children cult has tried to help stop BEN by sending players clues on Within Hubris, she doesn't believe that they are allies. She suspects that they are working with BEN and she has ruled them out as possible suspects that drowned him.

Another possible suspect that has been ruled out is the entity himself. She doesn't believe that the entity actually drowned a young boy with that name so the only two suspects are "The Father" and the old man that sold Jadusable the game cartridge. Apparently "The Father" is in fact the leader of the Moon Children cult but no one actually knows much about him besides that bit of information. There are theories that say the old man who sold Jadusable the game is in fact "The Father"; however there is no link that proves this. All of this seems quite confusing! How can Emily digest all this information? Suddenly I felt something prod me on my arm. I jumped slightly and heard a familiar laugh beside me. I frowned towards Megan who was laughing her head off.

"Megan, don't do that!" I cried.

"Sorry Vikki! It just felt like the right moment to annoy you! I didn't realise it would scare you!"

I sighed heavily and turned back towards my laptop.

"Have you found anything Megan?"

"No, I haven't. As far as the story goes, Jadusable was never sent into BEN's world. He managed to escape his clutches for now. The only song that people seem to be freaked out by is the Song of Unhealing"

"What's that?"

"According to Emily's notes it turns out it is the Song of Healing backwards. It has been played quite a few times during Jadusable's time with BEN. I'm going to try to look it up on Youtube later; however Emily has mentioned in her notes that we shouldn't play the song. It could possibly reveal our location to BEN"

"How is this entity so clever and powerful? He does things which seem like illusions! I mean because of him Emily has disappeared! We don't know where she is besides her guess that she could be sent to his world. What does she mean by that? Could it possibly be the Majora's Mask Cartridge?"

"Yeah, I think she's there; although we wouldn't be able to find the cartridge anywhere. According to the story, Jadusable burnt the cartridge so that BEN could no longer haunt people; however he has managed to spread across the internet. She could possibly be trapped inside a replica version of the game created by BEN"

I rested my head on the desk next to the laptop.

"It would be so much easier if we knew how Emily had entered BEN's world in the first place! That way it would be easier to save her!"

I slowly turned back to the laptop to find a tab opened up with Cleverbot on it. Cleverbot had said:

**Cleverbot: Hello Victoria.**

I paused for a moment. Ok, how does this thing know my name? And why did the tab open up? I didn't touch the laptop! I gulped.

"Er… Megan, how did BEN communicate with Emily on her laptop?" I questioned, my voice breaking slightly.

"He used a site called "Cleverbot". Why?"

"Do you think it is him talking to me now?"

Megan slowly leaned over towards my laptop. Her eyes widened.

"Did you open Cleverbot?"

"No, it opened up by itself…"

"Well quick, turn off the laptop and get another one!"

I was about to turn it off when I glanced towards the laptop cabinet. There were no more laptops! Drat!

"Megan, there aren't any more laptops!" I squeaked. "What should I do?"

Megan bit her lip.

"I don't know!"

I looked back towards the laptop again to find Cleverbot had put something else.

**Cleverbot: Don't ignore me Victoria. You will regret it.**

My hands began to tremble.

"Just talk to him and act clueless" Megan suggested. "That's what Emily told us to do if we should ever want to talk to him to get answers"

I shakily began typing on the keyboard.

**Me: Hello**

**Cleverbot: Hello**

**Me: Who is this?**

**Cleverbot: You should already know. I'm sure a friend of yours has already told you a lot about me.**

**Me: Are you BEN?**

**Cleverbot: Yes and no.**

He appeared to be talking in riddles again. Maybe I should act confused and see what happens.

**Me: So, does that mean you are not BEN?**

**Cleverbot: You hesitated. You are afraid of me, aren't you? **

**Me: Afraid of Cleverbot or BEN?**

**Cleverbot: Honesty is always the best policy.**

**Me: So does that mean you're lying?**

**Cleverbot: I never said I was. I said you were.**

**Me: You didn't. You just put a random statement in the middle of the conversation.**

**Cleverbot: Yes, that meant you were lying.**

**Me: No you just put a random statement. It doesn't say that I'm lying. You're just talking about being honest.**

**Cleverbot: You are afraid of me, aren't you?**

**Me: Afraid of what?**

**Cleverbot: Me.**

**Me: You mean Cleverbot? I'm not afraid of Cleverbot.**

**Cleverbot: No, I mean BEN.**

**Me: Wait, you're BEN?**

**Cleverbot: Yes! **

**Me: But your name says Cleverbot...**

He didn't reply after that. Megan sat there laughing in her seat.

"Vikki, I think that worked! You've confused him!"

Suddenly all the windows open on the laptop were minimised. A weird looking Link statue with a creepy face appeared on the screen. I gasped while Megan shrieked loudly and fell off the stool. She landed on the floor roughly. Mr Coombes came strolling towards us and frowned. I glanced towards the class who had all turned around to stare at us. Crap… I quickly slammed the laptop lid closed.

"What is going on over here?" He questioned. "Why are you shouting Megan?"

Megan seemed lost for words. Did that statue seriously scare her that badly? Well, to be honest it was quite creepy!

"Um… I scared her sir. I tapped her on the back and it frightened her quite badly. I didn't mean to scare her like that. I'm sorry!"

Mr Coombes gave me a look of disapproval.

"Well make sure it doesn't happen again. Now everyone get back to their research"

The class turned back towards their laptops and continued with their work. I sighed with relief and slowly opened up the laptop lid. The picture of the statue was gone.

"Are you all right Megan?" I asked, concerned.

I watched Megan slowly get up and climb back onto her stool.

"Yeah, I'm ok. I've seen that statue somewhere before but I can't remember where!"

I glanced back towards the laptop. Cleverbot had typed something.

**Cleverbot: Now are you going to stop pretending to be clueless, Victoria?**

**Me: How did you know what I was doing?**

**Cleverbot: I can see everything. You are the second person I have managed to contact. Emily wasn't very discreet with her actions it seems…**

**Me: So, did you make Emily disappear?**

**Cleverbot: Yes and No.**

**Me: Please BEN, don't start with the riddles! I want to know what happened to Emily!**

**Cleverbot: Your efforts are useless.**

**Me: What? **

**Cleverbot: You can't get answers out of me. You will never find Emily. You and your friend's efforts to save her will never find her. You might as well give up.**

**Me: No, none of us are giving up! Emily is our friend! We are not going to abandon her when she needs help!**

**Cleverbot: Human emotions are pathetic. I'm so glad I am no longer one…**

**Me: Aha! You just revealed a clue! You were the one that drowned! **

**Cleverbot: How do you not know I just said that to trick you?**

**Me: …**

**Cleverbot: There is beauty in your suffering…**

Then the window suddenly closed. I stared at the laptop in surprise. What just happened?

"It seems by us continuing to talk to BEN we are getting answers out of him" Megan commented. "We now know for sure that the entity didn't drown BEN"

"Yes, it does seem that way. I feel so sorry for Emily being trapped with this creep. I do hope she is all right"

"As do I Vikki. As do I"

* * *

**Emily's POV**

How long have I been going through this darkness for? I don't even know how long I've been trapped here for! For all I know I could have been stuck here for months! Even years! Nah, I don't think it's been that long! Anyway, I think I'm lost. I don't know which way the screen is and all I see in front of me is darkness. Maybe I should have just stayed by the screen instead… Yeah, that seemed like a wiser option instead of running headlong into the darkness. Wait, I think I see a light! Is that the screen? I watched as the light in front of me began to grow and grow until it eventually revealed a forest. It looked like I was inside the game. Oh damn! I'd better not be inside the game! If BEN knows I'm here he will start messing with my head! Suddenly I heard the sound of whistling behind me. I swirled around to find Child Link skipping through the forest. Funny, where is his sword and shield? And why is he skipping? And why is his hat missing? Link always wears a hat! Ok, this is really confusing!

Child Link passed me and didn't even bother as to glance in my direction. I must be invisible to him. I glanced on ahead to find someone hiding behind a tree. It looked like the Happy Mask Salesman. That creepy grin of his was spread wide across his face as Link got closer and closer. Oh no… I can see where this is going! I watched Link halt in the middle of the pathway. He looked up towards the sky. The sun was beginning to set behind the trees.

"It is starting to get pretty late" I heard him say. "I'd better hurry home"

Link can't talk! He's not supposed to talk! What the hell is going on here? Just as Link began to dash down the pathway, the Happy Mask Salesman grabbed him by the collar of his tunic from behind. Link began to squirm in his grip as the Happy Mask Salesman continued down the path through the forest.

"Hey! What are you doing? Put him down!" I cried, running after them.

I have no idea what I'm doing but I'm just going with my brain for now! As I pursued the pair the forest began to disappear. The scenery was changing. The rocky ground that I had been running on now turned to sand. The sky that was the same colour as a flame turned to a dark blue. The moon appeared in the sky, shedding some light across the area. I appeared to be on a beach, or is this a shoreline of somewhere? I shrugged it off as I continued to pursue the Happy Mask Salesman towards a lake up ahead. Wait, I've seen that lake! Link dived in there before in one of Jadusable's videos! I watched him halt in front of it as Link continued to struggle in his tight grip.

"You have met a terrible fate, haven't you?"

Link stared at him confused.

"W-What do you mean?" He asked innocently.

The Happy Mask Salesman only smirked. I halted a good distance away and continued to watch the two of them intently. Link continued to struggle in his grip.

"Let me go! Let me go! Help! Mommy! Mommy! Help me!"

Link doesn't have parents. Majora's Mask is a sequel from Ocarina of Time meaning Link's mother died during the war in Hyrule a while ago. The Deku Sprout told him that. Something's not adding up here…

"Why should I? It is fun to watch you suffer"

I froze at those words. This is BEN's doing! He's up to something! Is this a trap? My head told me to run yet I decided to stay. There was just something about this situation that made me compelled to continue to watch and to help Link if necessary. Link continued to struggle in the Happy Mask Salesman's grip until he eventually managed to punch him in the face. The expected reaction was for him to start crying out in pain and drop Link; however he didn't. He just stood there motionless. Link froze in his grip and stared at the man confused.

"You shouldn't have done that…"

A large grin appeared on his face as he threw Link high into the air. He landed in the middle of the lake. I watched as the poor boy started to flail his arms around wildly in an attempt to get to the land.

"Help me! I can't swim! Help me!"

My instinct reacted immediately. I dashed towards the lake and began making my way towards the middle where Link was. I watched as Link went under. I dived down and started swimming towards him. I reached for his hand; however just as I touched it my hand went straight through his. I gasped and had to swim upwards to get some air. I sucked in all the air I could when I reached the surface. What just happened? Why couldn't I save him? I dived back down and tried to swim after him as his body continued to sink. It was no use! He was too far down for me to reach! Feeling slightly disheartened, I swam back up to the surface and swam to the shore only to come face to face with the Happy Mask Salesman. He gave me his signature grin.

"You shouldn't have done that Emily…"

* * *

**Ellie's POV**

This whole BEN thing is really messing up my head! How is he finding us so easily? First he comes after Hannah and leaves a warning and then he scares the hell out of Vikki and Megan! Those two are still trying to research what the picture was that appeared on the school's laptops. I decided to do some of this research during ICT with Charlie and Charlotte. We had finished our work and were looking through the conversations that the others had with BEN. I was looking at Hannah's first to see if there was anything that could be picked out. This bit caught my attention:

**Hannah: Seriously BEN, stop talking in riddles.**

**Cleverbot: I'm glad you did that.**

**Hannah: Did what?**

**Cleverbot: ****I'm glad you acknowledge my existence unlike Emily and Jadusable who thought it was a prank.**

It seems that Emily probably angered him because she tried to convince herself he wasn't real. He seemed to like the fact that Hannah believed he existed. Is that the reason why he haunts people? Does he just want people to know he's there? Does he just want someone to talk to? I then compared Vikki's conversation with him. This bit was what I found suspicious:

**Cleverbot: You can't get answers out of me. You will never find Emily. You and your friend's efforts to save her will never find her. ****You might as well give up.**

**Victoria: No, none of us are giving up! Emily is our friend! We are not going to abandon her when she needs help!**

**Cleverbot: Human emotions are pathetic. ****I'm so glad I am no longer one…**

He revealed something but tried to convince Vikki otherwise. That is strange… So this means that the entity didn't drown a young boy called Ben. The actual person that drowned is the entity himself.

"Have you found anything yet Ellie?" Charlotte asked.

"No, have you found anything?"

"No I haven't. Wiki just keeps giving us information we already know! It hasn't been updated yet!"

"I've found something about that statue though" Charlie added. "It turns out it is known as an Elegy of Emptiness statue which Link was supposed to use in the game to help him access certain areas. BEN used this to represent himself in the game for Jadusable"

"That statue is really creepy" Charlotte commented. "He looks like he will attack you at any moment"

"Yeah, that is one creepy grin!" I agreed. "Do you think that's why BEN decided to use it?"

"Seems like it yes" Charlie agreed. "It reminds me of Ben's-"

"Charlie, don't you even go there!" Charlotte interrupted. "It is not the Ben you're thinking of!"

Charlie giggled and turned back to her computer. When I turned back to mine, I noticed a tab had come up with Cleverbot on it. I gulped as I shakily clicked on the tab. Cleverbot had said:

**Cleverbot: Hello Ellie. I'd like to have a little chat with you…**

* * *

Here's a little challenge for all you readers. Can any of you work out who supposedly drowned BEN and what BEN is actually trying to do from this story? It may not be very clear since this is only the third chapter but a lot of theories from the OC's views will probably give you an idea. I just want to see what everyone's theories are on what BEN is doing and how he drowned. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story! I'm going away for two weeks so I won't be updating most of my stories for a while during that time.


	4. Chapter 4: A trick of the mind?

Hello readers! I'm finally back with a new chapter which took me quite a while to write! I know that there has been questions asked in some of the reviews and I will answer them but, there is something that I need to get across first:

**Flame reviews. I don't like them nor do I even think of using them on any other author's fanfiction on this website. While I was away for two weeks, an anonymous user had posted a review that looks like to me a flame review. Sadly I couldn't moderate it in time so now it's stuck there. I do not accept flame reviews on any one of my fanfictions either directed at the story or me. Most of these questions in this review is answered within the story; however just to clarify to this person, if your review was intended to be insulting it hasn't worked. More likely, you sound absolutely confused and know nothing about BEN DROWNED whatsoever but, you're right. Any "normal" person would runaway from BEN in real life; however this isn't reality. It is called "fanfiction", meaning I can do what I want with it. So my characters aren't normal. Not a big deal at all. In fact, the characters are brave enough to go against this entity which is still a good thing. If you didn't intend to be insulting then forget what I just said and I apologise for writing this; however I am making one thing clear. Try and flame my story again and I'm gonna report the review that's stuck on this story right now. Understand? Good!**

I apologise for those of you who have nothing to do with this but I had to make it clear. Now onto the questions:

**Guestboy 111: Who the Ben Charlie was talking about?**

I see you have noticed the characters mention something about another Ben. That isn't part of the story. It is just a joke. My friends joke about this famous person whose name is Ben. They wanted me to add it into this story as a joke to see if people would notice. Don't worry about it. It has nothing to do with the plot.

**Guest: Are any of the characters based on real people? Or have you created them yourself?**

The characters within the story are entirely made up. They are not based on real people whatsoever.

**Guest: Who is the main character of this? BEN or Emily?**

BEN and Emily are both main characters; however the rest of the girls mentioned are also main characters in the story. The characters included in the BEN Drowned game and my OC's are all main characters. Any other characters you come across in the story are just side characters and aren't really very important.

**A/N: Sorry I started this on a negative note but I needed to get the message across. Thank you to those who have been giving good reviews for this story! Here is Chapter 4!**

* * *

Chapter 4: A trick of the mind?

"Charlotte, Charlie, BEN has contacted me!" I cried, lowering my voice. "What should I do?"

The two of them glanced at my screen. Charlotte just stared at it and didn't say anything. Charlie's eyes widened.

"Emily said to turn off the computer. You can move to the one next to me around the other side of the desk. You should be all right then"

I clicked off Cleverbot and logged off my computer. I moved around to the computer next to Charlie and didn't go on Wiki for the rest of the lesson. When the bell went for lunch I locked my computer; however I was still worried in case BEN managed to find me again…

We met with the others around our usual table in the canteen. Charlie explained to Vikki and Megan what the statue actually was.

"I knew I'd seen that statue somewhere!" Megan cried. "Emily showed me that picture before and told me what it was but I guess I forgot"

"Has BEN tried contacting any of you today?" Victoria asked.

"He did with me during ICT" I answered. "But I turned off the computer and moved to a different one"

Vikki's eyes widened.

"You ignored him?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, I did. Why?"

"We found out that BEN gets very annoyed when the person who he contacts ignores him. I found that out yesterday. I didn't reply to him straight away and in response to it he said: Don't ignore me Victoria. You will regret it"

"What are you saying exactly?" Alice asked.

"I'm saying that if BEN gets annoyed something bad is going to happen to us. That was already proved with Emily. She angered him and now he's caused her to disappear"

"Vikki does have a point" Charlotte agreed. "However I don't think we will disappear like Emily. I have a feeling BEN has something much worse for all of us up his sleeve"

I gulped and began to panic even more.

(What is BEN going to do anyway? How can he hurt us? He's stuck behind a screen!)

That is what I used to assure myself in my head as our lunch table went silent. We were running out of leads and possibly out of time. BEN could have done something awful to Emily. Perhaps what he said to Vikki was true… On the other hand, BEN might have not done anything and is merely toying with our heads. He wouldn't continue to come and bug us if he had. Then again, BEN may not leave us alone in case he thinks we would do something to avenge her. Gah, this is too confusing! There is more than one possibility and yet we don't know if Emily is still alive!

I sighed heavily and glanced at the canteen window. I suddenly saw a weird looking old man who was blind in one eye (or at least he appeared to be since one of his eyes had a red pupil) standing in front of the window staring at us. I gulped. I heard Hannah shriek beside me and fall off her chair. Charlie quickly stood up and helped her back onto her feet again.

"Are you ok Hannah? What's wrong?"

Hannah pointed a shaky finger towards the window.

"There's a creepy old guy staring at us through the window!"

All of our gazes turned towards the window. The old man was still there with a blank expressionless face.

"What creepy old guy?" Megan questioned confused. "I don't see anyone"

"Hannah isn't kidding!" I cried. "He's still there!"

"Are you two playing tricks on us or something?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow.

"How can you two not see him? He's still staring at us now!" Vikki retaliated.

"I can see him too!" Charlotte agreed. "I think the rest of you have gone as blind as a bat!"

"Or you lot have lost it" Charlie butted in. "There's no one there"

"This must be BEN's doing!"

All eyes now rested upon me as everyone stared at me with puzzled looks.

"That old guy looks like the same one that sold Jadusable the game cartridge. BEN's messing with our heads again. He's allowing some of us to see him and he's preventing the rest of us from being able to. I think this is BEN's way of getting back at me for ignoring him"

"Ellie, your explanation sounds spot on" Charlie agreed. "Although if this is supposed to be aimed at you, why is he involving all of us?"

"Perhaps he is warning the remainder of those who he hasn't contacted yet not to ignore him" Charlotte suggested.

"But me and Victoria have already spoken to him and yet we can see the old man there" Hannah replied.

"Yeah, that is confusing" Alice agreed. "I thought he would have chosen me, Charlie, Megan, Charlotte and Ellie since we haven't spoken to him yet"

"Well we don't have to worry anymore because he's gone now" Vikki assured.

I glanced back towards the window to find he had vanished. Does that mean he is just an illusion?

"So, should we ignore BEN or not?" Megan asked.

"I don't think we should" Charlie answered.

"I agree with Charlie" Hannah agreed. "If Ellie's explanation is right then BEN could do worse stuff than this to get our attention. I think he did do that to Jadusable when he refused to touch the game cartridge"

Suddenly Victoria quickly got up from her chair and dashed towards the window. I heard her gasp.

"Ellie, you need to see this. BEN seems to have been aiming at you this entire time…"

I slowly rose from my seat and walked up to the window. The others soon followed. I almost stumbled back in surprise when I saw what was written on the window in blood. It said: YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT ELLIE…

BEN knew what I did and I'm in big trouble! He has something else in store for me…

* * *

**Emily's POV**

Great, where the hell am I now? I appear to be in some sort of town. And where'd that creepy Happy Mask Salesman go? He was in front of me just now! BEN is behind this, isn't he? I'm sure he's toying with my head! I glanced at my surroundings once more curiously, taking in every bit of detail. Well, this place seems familiar… It looks like Clock Town from the Majora's mask game. I started to walk and try to find the Happy Mask Salesman. He's the reason I'm here so he's helping me get out one way or the other!

After walking around for some time, I came across the pool. I was quite annoyed by this point since every exit I had found led me to another part of Clock Town. Just like BEN did to Jadusable… I suppose BEN knew I'd end up here eventually; although I'm not going to do what Jadusable did to Link and try to drown myself in order to get out. Hm, I wonder if that Elegy of Emptiness statue will appear… I walked towards the edge of the pool and stared down at the water's surface intently, sighing. I hope the others are making better progress and BEN hasn't found anyone else.

Suddenly I saw something green float upwards through the water towards the surface. I leapt back in fright as Link's body emerged from the water and into the air. What the-? What's happening? I thought Link drowned! Suddenly Link's eyes flashed open. In a panic, he began looking around terrified. He started crying as his body was gently placed on the side of the pool beside me.

"Where am I? I want to go home! I want my mommy!"

I felt powerless. I had worked out why I couldn't save him from drowning before. Link was a hologram. He wasn't a real person. That's why my hand went straight through his. I bet he doesn't even know I'm here. I know that Happy Mask Salesman does.

"There's no going home now, BEN"

Link and I both jumped and glanced towards the entrance to find the Happy Mask Salesman with his creepy grin spread wide across his face. Wait, did he just call Link "BEN"? Aha, I knew it! BEN's showing me how he drowned and how he became the entity he is now! He's using the characters to portray what happened! I looked back towards Link who had now sat up and was staring at him with widened eyes.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?"

The Happy Mask Salesman slowly walked towards him with his arms behind his back.

"My identity isn't important at the moment. Your soul on the other hand is"

"I'm not dead"

"Ah, but you are BEN. Your soul is what is keeping you alive here. You are going to help me dominate over humans through the Majora's mask game"

Link stared at the Happy Mask Salesman confused.

"What Majora's Mask game?"

"The Legend of Zelda: Majora's mask game is what we are in now; however it is a completely different version. It has the same locations and characters; although it is my twisted version of it. I am an entity after all. My soul is in here along with yours but being an entity I can convert myself into a human"

So BEN's killer was an entity! I wonder…

"You are too going to become an entity; however you can take over objects instead of being able to become a human"

Ah, so the BEN that became an entity did drown but was killed by an entity. Interesting…

"Why? I want to be able to go home"

The Happy Mask Salesman chuckled.

"You can't escape from here. Your soul is bound here. You have no choice but to help me"

"No I don't want to help you! I want to go home!"

Link quickly leapt to his feet and dashed towards the exit. A flash of light suddenly appeared. Link skidded to a halt as an Elegy of Emptiness statue appeared before him. Link slowly began to back away as he stared at the statue's evil grin.

"Why are you so intent on returning home BEN? No one really cares about you. Why didn't anyone come to help you when you cried out for help?"

You can't tell a young boy that! No one was around that's why!

"BEN, don't listen to him! He's lying!"

"Don't bother Emily. He can't hear you. You are invisible to his eyes"

So he is the only one that can see me, huh? Link's eyes began to fill with tears.

"That's not true! You're wrong! You're wrong!" Link screamed.

The statue's eyes suddenly lit up red. Link glanced into its eyes and stumbled, falling to the floor. Slowly the statue began to edge towards him. With every step, Link was beginning to get weaker. He tried to use his hands to push himself up onto his feet but he kept falling back to the ground.

"Until you learn to realise the truth, your soul shall remain trapped inside that statue and show you that I am not lying"

What he said made me lose it.

"Leave him alone! I won't let you take his soul!"

I tried to get to him; however I ran straight through the Happy Mask Salesman who had stood in my way and I fell to the floor on my side. Whoa, that felt weird! It felt like a cold chill just passed through my body!

"Don't bother trying to help him Emily. Link is a hologram, remember? You can't do anything to help him"

"I'm not trying to help Link! I'm trying to help BEN!"

"Ah, but this is something from the past. It has already happened. There is nothing you can do to change it"

"It may have already happened, but I'm not going to let BEN suffer a second time!"

I pushed myself up onto my feet and dashed towards Link who was now lying on the floor. I tried to lift him into my arms; however he went straight through my hands again. I tried again and again. It wasn't working.

"God dammit BEN, let me help you!" I screamed towards the ceiling. "I know you can hear me! This may have already happened but you don't have to let it happen again! I don't know if this is because you don't trust me or you can't trust people in general but let me prove it! I've attempted to save you from drowning! I'm proving I want to help you aren't I?"

There was no reply. The statue was now towering over Link. I could see Link's eyes slowly closing. Even though it seemed completely pointless, I decided to try to lift him into my arms again. To my surprise, I was able to! Without a second thought I dashed away from the pool and back out onto the streets of Clock Town. Just like when Link was being chased by the statue with Jadusable, the statue kept disappearing and re-appearing behind me rapidly.

Maybe I should have thought this through first… I heard the evil laugh of the Happy Mask Salesman as Skull Kid suddenly flew down towards me. Oh no… Even though I tried to speed up in order to escape what was coming, I was too slow. Skull Kid flew straight through me and sent me tumbling along the ground with Link still in my arms. I slowly rolled over onto my side and tried to get up; however I couldn't. I saw Link slowly get up beside me.

"Go BEN, get away now!"

He nodded and quickly dashed towards the exit. The Elegy statue suddenly appeared in front of him. I was soon on my feet and I began dashing towards him; however a kick to my back sent me falling to the floor again. I glanced up to find the Happy Mask Salesman standing over me with his perverted grin. He held up the Majora's Mask in front of my face. Its eyes suddenly lit up red.

I began to feel faint. I glanced towards Link to find his body floating in the air above the statue. I tried to get up and help; however my vision was beginning to blur. My body began to feel heavy, making me collapse back on the floor. My eyelids were slowly closing. I couldn't fight for consciousness any longer. My vision finally went black just as Link's body smacked back down onto the ground in front of the statue…

* * *

**Megan's POV**

Vikki, Alice and I soon returned back to ICT once lunch had ended. The events during that time had left all of us shaken, including poor Ellie considering she was the one it was targeted at. What on earth is BEN trying to do? Is he trying to scare us so we can't get to Emily? It is obvious BEN's motive is unclear. I think Emily might be the only one who knows if he's gone and blabbed something to her. We all sat back down at our computers.

"I can't believe he is doing this!" Vikki groaned, placing her head on the desk.

"Well, Emily did warn us about it so this was something we should have expected…" I replied.

"Yeah but I'm scared for Ellie now" Alice agreed. "What if BEN makes her vanish too?"

"I don't think he will. He wouldn't be able to put up with all of us in there. We'd probably annoy him!"

"Yeah, he'd probably get sick of all our conversations on politicians and the other Ben!"

"Yeah especially about-"

"Don't go there!" Vikki butted in as her head shot up from the desk.

Alice and I just sat there laughing. Vikki sighed and turned back towards her computer.

"Aw, did we make you mad G-"

"Don't bother Alice" Victoria interrupted, narrowing her eyes.

Alice giggled. Suddenly Vikki shrieked.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Megan, look at your screen!"

I turned back towards the computer to find Cleverbot opened up. Cleverbot had said:

**Cleverbot: Hello Megan. Did Ellie enjoy the little surprise I left her?**

I glanced back between Alice and Vikki, waiting for one of them to give me their verdict before I said anything.

"Just reply Meg" Alice suggested. "Ignoring him will only make things worse"

Vikki nodded in agreement. Sighing, I started typing.

**Me: I'd rather not answer that question.**

**Cleverbot: Very well; although I doubt she will like her other surprise…**

**Me: What other surprise?**

**Cleverbot: Not telling; however I can show you if you would prefer…**

**Me: Stop it BEN! Leave us alone and let Emily go! We're sick and tired of your games!**

**Cleverbot: Ah, ah, ah, watch what you say. Emily is having a rough time at the moment. You wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her, now would you?**

**Me: You're sick minded, you know that?**

**Cleverbot: You hesitated…**

"Is he trying to tease you or something?" Vikki asked confused.

"Here Megan let me take over. I can handle him" Alice offered.

I gladly passed the keyboard to Alice and watched her type. I had apparently put:

**Me: None of us care what you are or what you're after but we want you to leave all of us alone, including Emily! What on earth has she done to you? She was never going to try to stop you in the first place if that is what you're worried about! She just came across this whole BEN Drowned stuff by accident and wanted to know more about it! None of us were going to stop you! If you want us to stop trying to destroy you now then give Emily back and leave every single one of us alone! That goes for Ellie as well! Just go back to wherever you came from and bother someone that cares! We don't want you here!**

BEN didn't reply. We waited for a few more minutes to see if he did write back. He didn't. Oh boy… All fell silent between the three of us.

"Alice, I have a feeling you might have angered him…" Vikki gulped, breaking the silence.

A few seconds after she spoke, BEN replied.

**Cleverbot: Well Alice, it appears you have a right temper; however nothing you just said had any effect on me at all. I am used to being shunned and I know when I'm not wanted, which is why I keep coming back. I can see you care dearly for each of your friends; however I don't feel any emotion whatsoever. Also, it's nice to see you again Victoria.**

Vikki and Alice exchanged surprised glances. The both of them were speechless. How the hell did BEN know they were here with me and that Alice wrote that? Wait, BEN can see everything. Of course he'd know!

"H-How did he know…?" Alice began, fading out.

"Emily wasn't kidding about him seeing everything!" Victoria cried.

**Cleverbot: Since you didn't answer my question from before Megan I am going to show you anyway. You can thank your friend Ellie for this…**

A picture soon popped up on the screen. It showed a young girl about the same age as us lying in complete darkness with her eyes closed. She does seem familiar… Wait, that's Emily!

"Is that Emily!?" Alice questioned, her eyes widening.

"I think it is" Vikki answered, shocked.

"I can't tell if she is alive or not, which is worrying…" I added, gulping.

"Ask BEN then" Vikki suggested. "Wait, he might not give you a straight answer…"

"I'm gonna try anyway!"

**Me: What the hell did you do to Emily? Is she dead?**

**Cleverbot: No, she is not dead. For once I have decided to be honest with you. She is merely sleeping. Emily is trapped within a dream of my own creation. She won't awake until I allow her to. It is quite interesting to see how she reacts to each situation and to hear her theories on what is being shown using the game characters. **

"So wait, does that mean that BEN is making it seem like she is trapped inside the game?" Victoria questioned.

**Me: Vikki is asking if Emily is trapped inside the game.**

"Megan, why did you ask him and say it was me?"

"I have a feeling we might have made him fall into a false sense of security. I think we can get answers out of him!"

**Cleverbot: Yes and no.**

**Me: I had a feeling you were going to say that…**

**Cleverbot: I'm glad you did that.**

**Me: Did what?**

**Cleverbot: I'm glad you asked me anyway. It shows you all have some courage.**

"Hey, what are you three doing?"

I jumped at the sound of the familiar voice behind me. All three of us quickly swirled around to find Jordan staring at my computer screen. Jordan is the class clown (well we think he is one anyway!) and also one of the disruptive students. Since he got told off most of the time, Jordan had self-appointed himself the job of being the class rat. In other words, if the well behaved students were on something they shouldn't be he'd get us in trouble. Now is one of those times…

"Sir, these three are looking at pictures of corpses instead of doing work!"

I panicked. BEN wouldn't remove the picture, even if we asked him to! I froze. I don't know what to do! Vikki quickly turned off my screen just as Mr Aktar came strolling over. The whole class had turned to stare at us. Oh god…

"Alice, please turn your computer screen back on"

"Er, sir _I'm_ Alice. That's Megan"

"I don't have all day. Turn your computer screen back on"

Obeying, I slowly turned the monitor back on. To our surprise, both Cleverbot and the picture had vanished. All that was left on the screen was my work! What did BEN do? Mr Aktar sighed.

"Jordan, stop telling lies. You are not in primary school anymore"

"But sir, I wasn't-"

"Get back to your work"

We watched Mr Aktar quickly walk off. Man, he looked so desperate to get back to his computer… Jordan gave us an angry glare.

"Don't think you've won this one!" He hissed.

He stormed back over to his seat. The three of us sighed with relief.

"That was too close!" I commented.

"Ok, we need to be more careful next time" Alice suggested. "We can't have anyone else see these things"

Suddenly Cleverbot came back up again.

**Cleverbot: Do not worry. I shall deal with this.**

**Me: What do you mean?**

**Cleverbot: You shall see…**

A few seconds later we heard Jordan scream and swirled around just in time to see him fly back onto the floor in his chair. Everyone was soon on their feet and surrounding Jordan's computer. I stared at the screen. My eyes widened. There was a creepy photo of Link with a ghostly face covered in blood! An evil grin could be seen spread across his face. Underneath the image were the words: You shouldn't have done that… I smirked. This is BEN's doing! The image suddenly vanished as soon as Mr Aktar came running over. He stared at the screen and then at us angrily.

"Everyone return to your seats now"

We all quickly went back to our seats as Mr Aktar helped Jordan up and then escorted him out the room, despite Jordan's protests to try to explain what happened. Our teacher is such a retard! I glanced back to the screen to find BEN had said something else.

**Cleverbot: That boy shouldn't bother you again. **

**Me: Er… Thank you BEN.**

**Cleverbot: You are welcome Megan. I shall leave Emily and Ellie alone for now; however you have been warned. Don't ignore me again.**

And then Cleverbot disappeared. What just happened? Did BEN just help us?

"Why did BEN do that?" Vikki asked confused.

"Perhaps he did it because he thought Jordan would prevent him from contacting us" Alice suggested.

"Or maybe Emily's theory was right" I added. "Maybe all BEN wants is help"

"You might be right Megan" Vikki agreed. "Perhaps Emily has managed to reason with him a little"

Emily must be doing well on her end. Somehow in the dream, she is reaching out to him. I just hope BEN sticks to his word.

* * *

Please read and review! I will have Chapter 5 up as soon as I can! :)


	5. Chapter 5: Questioning Theories

I apologise if this chapter is really short! I'm trying to save all the best bits for the next one without spoiling too much for you! Anyway, time to answer some more questions from more reviewers!

**Guest: What to ask but why does BEN want Ellie? And is Jordan going to become a big character in the story?**

BEN was only after Ellie because she had ignored him. BEN doesn't like being ignored and so he decided to taunt, like he did with Jadusable, until she eventually talked to him; however after the conversation between Megan and some input from Alice, he decided to leave Ellie alone for the moment. And no Jordan won't become a main character in this story. I only involved him as a side character.

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this Fanfiction! I will update soon! For now however, I shall give you Chapter 5! Enjoy! :)**

* * *

Chapter 5: Questioning theories

**Emily's POV**

I slowly opened my eyes to find myself back in complete darkness again. Am I back by the screen? I scanned around for any signs of Link, the Happy Mask Salesman, Skull Kid or the Elegy of Emptiness Statue. They are not planning some sneak attack on me, are they? I slowly got to my feet and scanned around once again. That was when I saw an Elegy of Emptiness Statue under a spotlight in the middle of the darkness. I managed to pick up the sound of crying. Is the statue crying? No, that's not possible! That statue has no emotion whatsoever, unless it's… I slowly approached the statue, hearing the sobbing get louder and louder with each step. It sounds really familiar but why does it sound familiar?

As soon as I was in front of the statue, I could hear a small voice coming from inside it. Yep, that's definitely Link crying! Oh damn, that means the statue got his soul! Argh!

"_You shouldn't have done that! You shouldn't have done that! You shouldn't have done that!"_

That is Link's voice! Is the Happy Mask Salesman hypnotising him or something?

"I told you Emily. There is nothing you can do about it. You cannot change what has already happened"

I swirled around to find the Happy Mask Salesman standing behind me. When the heck did he get here?

"It has been over three years now. Surely the boy has had some sense knocked into him…"

I watched as the Happy Mask Salesman slowly lifted Link's soul out of the statue. He had his eyes closed tightly and was trembling uncontrollably. Link was shaking his head back and forth rapidly and whimpering. What has he done to him?

"Now BEN it is time for you to wake up. You are to take over the internet from the Majora's Mask Game Cartridge. I will choose the one who will be able to send you from the game to take over the entire human race. Go my minion and overthrow the humans!"

Suddenly Link's eyes flashed open. His eyes seemed fine; however he was crying tears of blood instead of water. A small evil grin spread wide across his face. Link began to chuckle evilly.

"You shouldn't have done that…"

He flew towards me rapidly. I used my arms to defend my face and cried out in fear.

* * *

My eyes flashed open and I shot up, gasping for breath. I glanced around at my surroundings to find I was in front of the screen. Wait, did I have my eyes closed? Did I fall asleep? Did I just dream all of that?

"_I'm glad to see you are finally awake Emily. Did you enjoy your little nap?"_

BEN! Of course, now it makes sense! I quickly leapt to my feet frustrated.

"BEN, did you trap me within a dream?"

I felt a cold chill pass behind me. He's taunting me now…

"_Maybe I did and maybe I didn't. It depends on how you look at it"_

"Stop toying with me BEN! I wasn't here when I fell asleep! How did I end up back here?"

"_I had my minions carry you back here. I was right about your intelligence. It seems nothing ever escapes from you, does it?"_

"So was I dreaming or not?"

"_Yes, I trapped you within a dream of my own design. You were looking for answers, weren't you? I just provided you with answers"_

"So, what just happened was all true?"

"_Yes and no"_

I sighed heavily.

"Fine, I won't press it any further"

"_Do you not desire to know what has happened to your friends?"_

"BEN, what did you do?"

"_I have found four more of your friends; however I have only spoken to three of them. One tried to ignore me, which I soon sorted out..."_

"You haven't hurt that person, have you?"

"_I'm not going to ruin the surprise for you…"_

He's not going to answer me, is he? I sat back down on the ground again and stared down at the floor. I felt a cold chill hover above my shoulder. A hand soon patted it gently.

"_By the way, I'm glad you did that; however you were already told that you cannot change what has already happened. Although, I wish there had been someone like you there to help at the time…"_

Suddenly the cold chill and hand disappeared.

"BEN, wait!"

There was no reply. I smiled to myself. I have a feeling I had gotten through to him somehow! I glanced back up at the screen to find the Majora's Mask menu had appeared. It was on the game file screen. There were two files that had been renamed. The first file was called "Alice, Charlie, Charlotte and Ellie". The other file was called "Hannah, Megan and Victoria". I have a feeling BEN has located them all; however he hasn't spoken to all of them just yet. Oh god, I just hope whoever ignored him is ok and hasn't been hurt!

That's it! I can't believe I didn't see this before! Those files must be connected to their computers at home. If I can contact them when BEN has gone, I can tell them what I've found out! And I think I've found a way to get into here. Music was played when I entered in here so they must play the song of Unhealing to get here! Don't worry guys! I think I have the answers!

* * *

**Alice's POV**

I found myself in some kind of field. Huh, well I wasn't expecting this! I glanced around to find I was alone. It was night. Good things never happen at night, right? This is just making things even creepier… Right, I'd better get moving! Standing here might not be the wisest idea! Just as I started walking away I heard something land on the grass behind me. I swirled around to find that creepy Link statue with the troll face staring at me. I sighed. It seems BEN hasn't learned from our last conversation not to mess with me…

"Look BEN, I'm not scared of you so just give up already!"

I watched as a green light appeared around the statue before it quickly disappeared from sight. I smirked. Looks like I win this one! Suddenly the same light reappeared again; however this time the statue had moved slightly closer. What the hell? I stared into the statue's empty eyes.

"You won't give up, will you BEN?"

"Who is this "BEN" you speak of?"

Did the statue just talk? That doesn't sound like a little boy's voice! Ok it does but the way they pronounced "BEN" was quite venomous.

"What do you mean? Aren't you BEN?"

The statue laughed evilly.

"Of course I'm not "BEN"! I am one of the moon children! I work for Father!"

Wait, did they just say Father? Do they mean "The Father", the one that Emily mentioned in her notes who ruled over them?

"And I've just realised that the BEN you're speaking of was a traitor to us! We soon sorted him out…"

"How did you sort him out?"

"We drowned him of course!"

My eyes widened. BEN was human, right? He was never a part of the moon children, right? Something is wrong here…

"The Father has ordered me to come after you in the form of the statue. You and your friends need to be gotten rid of"

"Are they here too?"

The statue laughed again.

"Not telling unless you give in now!"

I laughed.

"I'm not going to give in! I'm not going to stop until we have Emily back!"

The statue was silent for a moment.

"What are you talking about? Emily is here along with the rest of your friends!"

"No, BEN has her"

"BEN's dead! You are lying!"

"I never lie!"

A small smirk appeared on my face. Ha, Emily always got annoyed when we said that to her! And I actually miss saying that to her… The statue seemed enraged. It began to rock back and forth angrily. Suddenly a weird creature wearing a weird looking headdress with green feathers, a face that resembled the Majora's Mask (which Emily had put an image of in her notes!) and wearing a skirt made of green leaves leapt out from within the statue. Its skin was ghost white and its eyes were holes with bugs crawling out of them. Its height appeared to be only up to my waist; however since it was hunched over, it could have been taller. It landed on its feet and hands sounding a weird call. Is that really what the moon children look like? They are quite disgusting to look at… No time to think about that Alice! You need to go quickly!

I quickly dashed away across the field with the moon child chasing after me, still shrieking. Suddenly more shrieks sounded throughout the field and more of them began to appear from the side. What is this? What is going on? I don't understand! What is BEN really? Suddenly another statue appeared in front of me, blocking my way; however the green light suddenly surrounded me. The moon children withdrew from their attempts of getting to me and dashed away from the scene. Did the statue just save me?

"_Alice, you shouldn't have done that…"_

"BEN, is that you?"

"_Yes and no"_

"Yep, that is definitely you! Only you speak in riddles!"

"_I'm glad you acknowledge my existence"_

"BEN, what is going on? Where am I?"

"_I cannot reveal that"_

"Why?"

"_It is not safe here. Follow me. Stay close behind me"_

I watched the statue disappear and then reappear again rapidly in the opposite direction. Wow, that was a reply I wasn't expecting! After waiting until the statue had moved quite a bit, I began to quickly run after it. After running across the field for some time, we finally came across a small town. The statue halted in front of the entrance to the town. What is this place? I stood silently beside it and gazed at the town in awe.

"_We are at Clock Town; however this place is the distorted version. From here I cannot come with you. I can only instruct you on where to go next"_

"Why can't you come any further than here BEN? What is going on?"

"_I cannot reveal much; however you need to head towards the training shop. You will find the rest of them there. I am only present here in this form because you were thinking of me. I cannot enter here alone since I am not controlling it. I am an entity that can take over certain objects; however only for a short time. My time within the statue is running out and until I find another object to control, I cannot come back within here. All I can say is that you are trapped in a dream. Heed my warning: Beware the Happy Mask Salesman"_

The statue suddenly vanished.

"BEN, wait! What do you mean?"

The only reply was the sound of the wind blowing harshly through the air. I guess I am on my own from here… I slowly walked into the town. It was deserted. Not a single soul was present within here. It was quiet. The silence was beginning to make me feel uneasy. What did BEN mean? What was he talking about? Is this all really just a dream? I keep getting the feeling that someone is watching me. I glanced up towards the sky to find a really creepy looking yellow moon with a similar troll face to the statue; however it wasn't a weird smile it had but a baring teeth reaction. Enough of the moon now! Where is the training shop?

* * *

It felt like hours after circling the town at least twice. I think I'm lost… No matter where I go I end up back where I started! Perhaps BEN should have given me some key things to look out for like a sign or something!

"I'm over here, you know!"

That isn't a voice I recognise… I swirled around to find one of the moon children again on top of one of the buildings; however this one appeared to be different. This one looked normal. It still had the face of the Majora's Mask; although it had dark green eyes instead of holes. Its skin was a light green and it was wearing the same headdress as the other moon children. It was wearing green shorts though and appeared to be standing more upright than the others. It leapt down from the building just as I started to run away.

"Hey come back, don't you want to go to the training shop?"

I came to a halt just as the moon child approached me.

"Yes. Who are you?"

"The name's Kelbris!"

"Are you male or female?"

Kelbris raised an eyebrow.

"That's quite a stupid question considering my voice sounds male; however I'll let it slide. Yes I am male"

"Are you apart of the moon children cult?"

"Whoa, slow down there! All will be answered when I get you to your friends!"

"Wait, why should I trust you? You could be tricking me!"

Kelbris slowly placed both his hands on my shoulders. It seems he could hear the concern and anger in my tone. Plus I was surprised that with how tall he was he could reach my shoulders!

"Look, there is no need to panic. I will lead you there; however it is not safe to discuss this out in the open. The moon children are searching for you. They can catch you at any time while you are out here. Please just be patient. Just until we reach the building, ok?"

I took a deep breath and nodded slowly. I have no idea why but I'll have to trust him, for now that is… Following closely behind him, the two of us finally made it to the training shop. Oh man, I passed this place already! How could I have not seen this before? I slowly entered the shop and a smile of relief stretched widely across my face as I saw the others all standing in the middle of the shop.

* * *

**Charlie's POV**

I honestly have no idea how we all ended up in the same place like this but at least we are all safe for now! I'm glad Alice has managed to get here and I know everyone else is judging by the looks of relief they all have on their faces!

"Well, I'll leave you all to discuss whatever you need to!" The green moon child cried, dashing out the door and into the night.

"Alice, do you know who that was?" I asked.

"He said his name was Kelbris; however I don't think he is on our side. I have a feeling he is a spy so we should get away from here as fast as possible when we come up with a plan"

"I agree. We can't have people who we don't trust fully hearing our conversation" Ellie agreed.

"So, where are we exactly?" Charlotte questioned confused. "I'm still waiting for someone to answer me!"

"Charley, we've already told you we don't know!" Megan retaliated.

"Wait weren't you guys helped by BEN?" Alice asked.

All eyes were on Alice now. Very confused eyes… Sorry, I like acting all dramatic at times like this!

"No… We were all just dumped in here" Hannah answered. "Why?"

"I just came across BEN. He helped me escape from the moon children. He didn't reveal to me anything besides that I was in a dream and to beware of the Happy Mask Salesman"

"We're in a dream?" Megan cried. "Oh god, I hope BEN isn't doing what he did to Emily!"

"So, does that mean BEN has something else planned for us?" Victoria questioned.

"It would seem so…" Ellie answered quietly.

"Did he mention anything about getting out of the dream?" Charley asked hopefully.

"Sadly no, he never said that" Alice replied solemnly. "However he did say he wouldn't come back into the dream until he found another object to take over. BEN is an entity that can take over objects; although it is only for a short time"

"Do you think BEN is trying to help us?" Megan questioned.

"I highly doubt that Megan!" I replied. "He's probably toying with us!"

"I doubt it too" Ellie agreed. "The best thing to do is to avoid BEN wherever possible"

"How do we know that though?" Victoria retaliated. "I mean, BEN did help us by scaring Jordon so I think Emily managed to get to him somehow!"

"I don't know Victoria. Something about all this seems a bit off…" Hannah replied.

"Yeah, I don't think BEN is going to help us all willingly!" Alice agreed. "I'm sure there is a catch behind all this!"

"So, what do we do?"

"I say we do a runner now before the moon children find us!" I cried. "Who's with me?"

All of them nodded in agreement. Wow, they all actually agreed with me! No time to be celebrating Charlie! We all quickly dashed out the door.

* * *

**Emily's POV**

"_So, your little friends have all opted to try to make a run for it. Quite an interesting discussion they had"_

"BEN, get them out of there now!"

"_I can't. I may have created the dream; however unlike what happened to you, I planned out everything that is supposed to happen in advance. Until every event has happened to them individually, none of them can escape at the moment"_

I watched on in horror as Charlotte suddenly skidded to a halt and stared up shocked at the moon. She called to the others and they too stopped and swirled around, their eyes widening in shock. The moon was going to crash down on Clock Town! Just like in the game! Oh no! Oh no!

"BEN, stop the moon!"

"_I cannot. I can't do anything to help them. Skull Kid is the only one who can stop it"_

I narrowed my eyes towards a small silhouetted figure cackling evilly in front of the bright yellow moon descending towards the town. I can't believe that I thought I'd finally gotten through to him… He's gone back to his old ways. Suddenly a green light appeared in the area where BEN was supposed to be.

"BEN, where are you going?"

"_I am descending into the dream. I want to see if I can trick them into believing I'm helping them"_

"No BEN, get back here! I won't let you go! BEN!"

He merely ignored me. I watched as the green light suddenly disappeared. When I glanced back towards the screen I saw the moon had descended closer. The others were now by the entrance looking worried. They all seemed to be there and were quite frustrated. The entrance appeared to be blocked by a white transparent barricade. Hannah charged at it angrily; however she was sent flying back, landing on the floor roughly. Oh god, I want to help them but I can't! I don't know what to do! Think Emily! You've researched the game! You should know how to help them!

Suddenly I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I swirled around and lashed out only to find the real Skull Kid without the Majora's mask leaping back out the way.

"Whoa, watch it!"

"What are you doing here?"

Skull Kid smiled sheepishly.

"Well… er… BEN needs you to play an important part in his plan"

He sounds guilty.

"What does he need me to do?"

Skull Kid pulled from behind his back the Ocarina of Time.

"As part of his plan, BEN knows that you'll do something to save your friends. He wanted me to give you the Ocarina; however I have rigged it so you'll end up paused in time in between the two dreams he has created but only for five minutes. That should give you some time to tell them everything before BEN sends them off in their groups and comes after you"

I stared at him surprised.

"Why are you trying to help me?"

"I know BEN can be saved from the life he has been given. You _have_ gotten through to him Emily. Don't start to doubt yourself. You'd better hurry! The moon is close to crashing into the Clock Tower!"

I glanced back towards the screen to find the moon's creepy face descending towards the Clock Tower. The others had crowded together and were preparing themselves for the worst. I nodded, quickly taking the Ocarina from his small outstretched hand. I smiled.

"Thank you Skull Kid"

"You're welcome! Now go quickly! And remember, you will only appear in the dream as a hologram!"

I quickly dashed towards the screen. I selected to go back to the main menu using my hand outstretched as the controller. The two files had now changed names and the names replacing them were "The dream" and "The past". Oh, I see what BEN is going to do! He's going to split them up in the past one! He's just tormenting them from the dream! There seems to be more to BEN's past than I thought… I selected "The dream" file and watched a green light quickly surround me. I waved once more to Skull Kid before vanishing from BEN's world completely.

* * *

**Charlotte's POV**

We watched on in horror as the moon smashed into the Clock Tower. It was descending towards us slowly and there was no way out! It was a trap! It was all a trap! Damn BEN!

"I shouldn't have listened to BEN" Alice admitted. "Perhaps then I could have found a way to save you guys from the other side"

"Alice, it wasn't your fault!" I assured. "Don't worry about it!"

Hannah and Megan continued to charge into the barrier; however their efforts together weren't working.

"It's no use!" Hannah moaned, breathless. "The barrier won't break!"

"Should we try all of us charging at it all at once?" Charlie suggested.

"I don't think that will work…" Vikki answered solemnly. "If Hannah can't break it alone then that must mean all of us won't work either. BEN obviously wants us to suffer"

A loud cackle sounded throughout the town. A silhouetted figure was flying in front of the moon, taunting us.

"You'll never get away!"

"Well, I guess this is it…" Ellie sighed. "We're all going to get squished"

"BEN said this was supposed to be a dream, right?" Megan questioned. "Doesn't that mean we won't die but wake up?"

"BEN could have deceived us Megan" Charlie answered. "There's nothing we can do but prepare for the worst"

We all nodded. We all held hands tightly and watched as the moon slowly descended towards us. This is it… Well my life was nice while it lasted, I suppose! Suddenly a green light appeared in front of us. When the figure reappeared we were all shocked.

"Emily!" We all cried in a mixture of confusion and happiness.


	6. Chapter 6: A short reunion

I think this has to be the longest chapter I have written for this story so far. It seems more mysteries pop up in this too. Oh and please don't post reviews asking when I'm going to be updating. I have a life you know. I like to take my time with stories to let my ideas flow and so each chapter comes out ok. That's why I haven't put a specific date as to when I'm going to update next. I have other stuff I need to do too. Don't rush me. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed or favourited this fanfiction. I now give you Chapter 6! :-)

* * *

Chapter 6: A short reunion

Emily quickly turned to face the descending moon with a weird instrument in both her hands. A small tune suddenly sounded from it, echoing throughout the town loudly. Once the tune ended everything appeared to freeze. Not a single soul moved. Then suddenly the scene before us began to go backwards. Black shrouded us from seeing anymore. Everything around us had become black, even the floor! Emily was now standing in front of us holding the weird blue instrument in both hands.

"Emily, is that really you?" Ellie questioned, reaching out her hand.

However as she went to touch Emily's hand, hers went straight through it. We all gasped.

"Sadly it is only a hologram version of me. It was the only way I could teleport myself in here. I don't have much time to talk to you so all of you will have to listen very carefully"

We all remained silent.

"BEN wasn't lying to you Alice when he said he couldn't control the dream; however that is only because he created everything in advance so he couldn't control it on purpose. He is toying with you all. Where we are now is in between the two dreams that BEN has created known as "The dream" and "The past". You can probably guess where you are heading off to next; although you will be split up into groups and will have to follow the path he has set in order to escape the dream, in other words to wake up"

"So, BEN gave us information that was partly true?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, he did"

I watched as Emily quickly glanced down at the Ocarina in her hand. She looked back up and smiled at us warmly; however I could see fear was present in her eyes.

"The information I am going to give you next will help you in getting into BEN's world; however at least one of you must remember. I think you may need the Song of Unhealing. It was played as BEN was shutting down my brain, or at least that is what I've thought he was doing. Play it in front of my laptop and see if that opens the gate to his world"

"What about getting out?" Megan wondered.

"I don't know about that Megan, otherwise I would have probably escaped from BEN by now"

"By the way, is there enough time to ask what happened back there?" I questioned.

"Yes there is Charley. Using the Ocarina I played the Song of Time in order to reverse everything and trap us in the dimension between both of BEN's dreams. I have a feeling though that BEN will separate one of you from everyone else and have you enter the dream alone when you all are split into your individual groups"

"Why would he do that?" Hannah questioned.

"He's probably doing it to torment us…" Victoria replied. "There is no other explanation. He has been toying with us the whole time anyway!"

"Wait, do you know what else he's planning?" Alice asked, curious.

"Sadly I do not; however I can give you clues as to what BEN might be. He is a human and was drowned as a young boy; although BEN was killed by an entity and he has too become one. This entity can possess and become a regular human. BEN can only possess objects. His soul was trapped within an Elegy of Emptiness statue for three years and was hypnotised in order for this entity to use him as a minion. BEN is getting more and more cunning. I am unsure whether I have gotten through to him; however I'm trying all I can. You will enter which I think is more of BEN's past. It may confuse you after I just told you what BEN's past was like from what I saw but they might be connected"

Suddenly the darkness began to disappear. All seven of us were lifted into the air and were being pulled away from one another. Four dark vortexes suddenly appeared behind us. I was being pulled towards a vortex along with Ellie. Alice and Megan were being pulled towards one. Hannah and Charlie were being pulled towards one and Vikki was on her own. Oh no, Vikki is the one going alone!

"Vikki, you'll need this!" Emily shouted, throwing the Ocarina as hard as she could.

Victoria quickly caught it and held onto it tightly.

"Guys, remember this! Watch out for the Happy Mask Salesman! Don't let him get you!"

"_You shouldn't have done that Emily…"_

A green light suddenly surrounded Emily. We gasped and tried to escape from the vortex's grips as we were pulled in more vigorously. The last thing I saw was Emily vanishing before slowly blacking out…

* * *

**Emily's POV**

When I reappeared again, I was back in front of the screen in BEN's world. This is just great… At least I was able to warn them about the dangers before they disappeared into the next file!

"_That was very sneaky of you Emily; however that Ocarina won't be able to save Victoria or the others from the dangers they are going to face"_

And BEN's back! This is just great isn't it?

"BEN, what are you planning?"

A cold chill whizzed behind me.

"_Not telling. You'll have to watch and see for yourself"_

I glanced back towards the screen to find Hannah and Charlie back in Clock Town. Why are they back there?

"BEN, stop this madness right now! Why are you doing this? Why torment them?"

"_There is beauty in their suffering"_

I have finally had it with him! I'm not allowing this to go on any longer!

"Fine, if you won't stop it then I will!"

I dashed towards the screen; however I felt the cold chill halt in front of me. I sharply skidded to a halt.

"_Do not defy me Emily. You know what happens to those who defy me, don't you?"_

His tone had become quite venomous. I gulped. Have I angered him again?

"_I am doing this all for a reason and yet you still haven't found that reason. Once you realise that reason then you will realise that all is not as it seems. And also, you don't want to end up like Skull kid now do you?"_

A green light suddenly lit up in front of me. After a few seconds it quickly disappeared and revealed a sprawled out Skull Kid on the floor lifeless in a large pool of blood. I looked away disgusted. I was more disgusted with BEN than I was with the amount of blood that was shed. Then an idea suddenly hit me. BEN speaks in a lot of riddles, right? He said "you don't want to end up like Skull kid now do you?" but he never mentioned that he killed him!

"BEN, you didn't kill Skull Kid did you?"

The area was silent. Neither of us spoke at all. I was surprised. Am I right?

"_I'm glad you did that…"_

"Did what?"

I felt a cold hand pat me gently on top of my head before finally disappearing. Skull Kid's lifeless corpse vanished.

"BEN?"

There was no reply. I suppose BEN has vanished. I sat down in front of the screen and continued to watch the others progress through the dream. I hope Vikki realises the Ocarina has a clue on it to help her and the others in the dream…

* * *

**Hannah's POV**

Charlie and I soon found ourselves being tossed out of the vortex and landing face first on the ground. I quickly looked back to find the vortex quickly vanish as fast as it appeared. The others were nowhere to be found. Wait a minute are we back in Clock Town? Charlie and I slowly stood up and glanced around curiously. The town had people inhabiting it this time; however there were not many people about. Why the hell have we ended up back here?

"Hannah, I do not like this at all. Do you think we should get away from here?"

"Yeah, I don't want to hang around for those ghoul things to come after us!"

Just as the two of us began to dash through the town, I realised Charlie wasn't following me. I quickly skidded to a halt and glanced round to find her standing there with her head tilted slightly to the side.

"What's the matter C-?"

"Shush, do you hear that?"

I managed to pick up the faint sound of… crying? I glanced around and tried to follow the noise. It was coming from a nearby alleyway. I dashed down the alleyway followed closely behind by Charlie to find a small white blanket bundle just by the exit of the alleyway. The sound seems to be coming from that… Charlie slowly approached the bundle. Her eyes widened.

"Hannah, come look at this!"

Ok, I can't tell if that tone was excitement or shock. I'll still go over there anyway! I cautiously walked over to stand at Charlie's side and was shocked. The little bundle turned out to be a small crying baby wrapped in a white blanket. Who the hell leaves a baby out here in the open on its own? The baby stopped crying and stared at the two of us curiously with bright blue eyes.

"Aw, it's only a baby!" Charlie sighed.

She bent down to pick it up; however I quickly grabbed hold of her shoulder tightly.

"Wait, Charlie what if this is a BEN baby?"

Charlie stared at me wide eyed.

"Why the hell would Ben appear here and leave one of his children-?"

"No, I don't mean that Ben! I mean that the baby lying there is BEN when he was a baby!"

"Wait, so the baby here is actually Ben G-"

"No, I mean the baby here is BEN! You know the entity BEN!"

"Oh, now I get it! I was gonna say Hannah!"

Why the hell would I be talking about that Ben anyway? My god, how is everyone getting entity BEN confused with that Ben?

"But why don't you want me to touch him?"

"This must be his past! We can't interfere with the past it could change everything!"

"Aw but look he's going to cry again. Surely by picking him up I won't be interfering with the-"

"Charlie, you can't do anything to change the past full stop! If you do the changes to the future and our present will be dramatic!"

Charlie smiled at me evilly. She's got a plan hasn't she?

"But Hannah, we can stop BEN from becoming an entity and kidnapping Emily! Everything will go back to normal! We won't have to be afraid of him anymore!"

"Who said I was afraid of him? I just find BEN creepy that's all! And besides, we can't! I know it's tempting but we can't change the future, even if it's for the better"

Charlie sighed.

"All right I won't touch him" She grumbled.

An evil cackle sounded from outside the alleyway, followed by a loud ear-piercing scream. Both Charlie and I snapped our heads up to the source of the noise.

"Charlie, wait here with the baby. I'm gonna go check it out"

I tip-toed silently towards the end of the wall and slowly peeked my head around it, pulling weird faces at the same time.

"Hannah, what the hell are you doing?" Charlie whispered.

"I'm trying to make the situation seem not as bad as we think it is ok! It's making me feel better!"

Yes I know I'm not taking this seriously but it's to make the situation seem less creepy! I saw two of the moon children standing above a young woman sprawled out on the ground in a large pool of blood. The Happy Mask Salesman towered over her with that evil and twisted perverted grin on his face. Wait, the Happy Mask Salesman!

"Such a shame really, isn't it my children? A human who followed in the path of the moon children finally disobeys my orders in a pathetic attempt to prevent her new-born from becoming one of us. She wasted her life so we didn't find out where the baby was, yet because it was making such a racket we know where it now is. I order the two of you to go and retrieve that baby!"

The two moon children bowed loyally.

"Of course Father"

Eeep, what do I do? You know what screw the space time continuum! I'm saving BEN no matter what! I'd better not tell anyone I just said that… I quickly dashed back into the alleyway to find Charlie cradling the baby in her arms. She still touched the baby even though I told her not to! Oh well, it doesn't matter now!

"Charlie quick, we need to get away from here with the baby! The moon children are coming for BEN!"

Charlie stared at me confused.

"But what about-"

"Forget what I just said woman, we need to leave now!"

Charlie nodded stiffly, not bothering to argue with my statement. After quickly helping her to her feet, the two of us quickly dashed out the alleyway. We ran through the town like maniacs, ignoring the stares of passer-by's. Just as we reached the exit however, the two moon children from before blocked our path.

"You shouldn't have done that…" They both chanted.

"Yes, you two shouldn't have done that…"

Charlie and I quickly swirled around to find the Happy Mask Salesman standing behind us. He slowly held out his left hand.

"I shall be taking that moon child if you don't mind"

"Whoa buddy, BEN isn't a moon child yet!"

"Hannah, what are you saying?"

"I saw you murder his real mother! He's not going to become an entity! Forget it!"

The Happy Mask Salesman smirked.

"You cannot change what has already happened. Just as persistent as Emily to save him I see…"

"What are you talking about?" Charlie questioned.

The Happy Mask Salesman chuckled.

"Don't you two see? This is all mirroring what happened years ago. Even if you meddle with the mirror of his past you are not changing anything. Emily has done exactly the same thing as you two but in a different scenario. Has she finally convinced you that BEN isn't the horrific and cruel hearted entity you've seen him as and that his little games are his way of telling you he needs help?"

Charlie and I stayed silent for a few moments. Even though we had denied it back at the training shop, it seems that Emily might be right. BEN is trying to reach out for help. Emily must have seen a part of BEN's past in order to tell us what she thought. She believes that the past she saw and the one the rest of us are seeing are connected somehow. So does that mean this is the first part of his past?

"It doesn't matter what you say! We're not going to allow you to take BEN with you!" Charlie cried. "We don't care if this already happened! We won't let him suffer a second time, right Hannah?"

"Yeah, we won't let you have him!"

The Happy Mask Salesman was angered.

"Get the child, now!"

Crap, forgot about the moon children! Charlie and I quickly swirled around and came face to face with the two moon children. I tried to punch and kick them to get out the way; however they managed to flip me over and make me land on the floor on my back. When the hell did they take karate lessons? Charlie tried to run while I had somewhat distracted them; however she received a nasty kick to the side, which sent her flying next to me along the floor roughly. The baby was carefully placed in the Happy Mask Salesman's arms. I could feel my body weakening and my vision spinning rapidly. When I glanced towards Charlie for help, she appeared to be motionless. I think she's unconscious…

"This child is now an official member of the moon children cult. He shall be named Ben and worship the moon known as Luna"

I tried to stand; however I soon found myself collapsing onto the ground again. No, I have to stand up! I'm not letting him win! BEN, for god sakes help us! Charlie and I are trying to help you! Can't you see that? I don't think he can hear me inside my head… Suddenly a green light appeared and knocked the Happy Mask Salesman and the moon children flying backwards. The baby, Ben, remained floating in mid-air. Charlie stirred beside me and slowly opened her eyes. After remembering where she was and what happened she quickly sat up to find baby Ben floating slowly towards her. My body re-gained its strength just as the baby landed in Charlie's arms. What? What's going on? An Elegy of Emptiness statue suddenly appeared.

"_Charlie, Hannah, go now!"_

Is that BEN? Is this BEN's doing?

"Don't act like you're trying to help us BEN! We know you trapped us in here on purpose!" Charlie retaliated venomously.

"_I know I have deceived you but you must listen! The warning I gave Alice is the truth! Even Emily told you! Beware the Happy Mask Salesman! Beware the Happy Mask Salesman!"_

Oh god, BEN was right! I can't believe I didn't see this before! Both Emily and BEN warned us about him! I never realised… But why is he helping us?

"_Go now! Get away from here!"_

"You shouldn't have done that BEN…"

We watched on in horror as the Elegy of Emptiness statue was crushed by the moon children. Charlie and I quickly took our leave, running as fast as we could away from Clock Town; however it wasn't long before I felt something hard kick me in the back and send me flying head first to the ground. I glanced beside me to find Charlie had the same thing happen to her and only this time was she properly unconscious.

My eyelids were slowly closing and my vision was becoming black. I saw the Happy Mask Salesman pointing towards us and saying something to the moon children which I couldn't make out. My eyelids slowly closed as I saw Ben being given to the Happy Mask Salesman…

* * *

**Victoria's POV**

I found myself being flung out the vortex roughly and landing face first on the ground. Great! Well at least I landed on something soft! I slowly glanced behind me to find the vortex had vanished. I slowly stood up and stared carefully at the Ocarina in my hands. Why the hell did Emily give me this? I don't know how to play this weird looking flute thing! I began playfully twisting it about in my hand until I found a small sticky note attached to the back. I carefully pulled it off and stared at it curiously. The only thing written on the paper was "The Song of Healing" and underneath it there were five holes drawn with numbers above them. Are the numbers there to show the order of the notes?

I took my eyes off the note for a moment and glanced around at my surroundings. I appeared to be in the middle of a forest. Oh great, good things never happen in a forest when related to horror stuff, right? I stared back towards the Ocarina again and noticed the holes were in the same places as Emily had drawn them on the sticky note. Huh, maybe I should attempt to play it. Wait, how did Emily play the instrument before? She put her fingers over the holes and then blew into it I think. I don't think the song will be much use to me if I play it out h- Whoa, what was that sound? I'd better start playing it! It might get me out of here!

Taking a deep breath, I placed my fingers over the holes and followed the directions on the sticky note. A small tune that sounded different from the one Emily had played before escaped from the tiny instrument and echoed throughout the forest. Well, for my first time playing this I wasn't too bad! I stood there silently and waited for something to happen. Nothing did. Well, that was a blooming waste of time! Did I play it wrong or something?

"Hey, that was a pretty song you played there Miss"

I jumped and swirled around to find a young boy that looked about eight hiding behind a nearby tree. Funny, he looks a lot like the kid on the front of those Zelda games that Emily likes… What was his name again? Link, was it? Meh, I don't know. I didn't reply. I just stood there staring at him like an idiot.

"What was it called? The song I mean"

"Er… The Song of Healing"

The boy continued to stare at me with curiosity present in his eyes.

"I've never heard of that song before…"

Why is he still staring at me like I'm an alien?

"Are… Are you a human?"

I stared at him confused. Did he seriously just ask that question? And what was with the hesitation?

"Yes, why the hell are you asking me that?"

The boy slowly tilted his head to the side.

"It's just that I've never seen someone else who is like me wandering around here"

"What do you mean?"

The boy slowly came from behind the tree and began twiddling both his thumbs. He had blonde hair, blue eyes and was wearing a green tunic with a white top underneath. The white top looked a bit big for him so the sleeves covered his small hands completely. He had brown boots and looked like he was wearing white tights. He was also wearing a weird hat on his head. This boy reminds me of an elf for some reason but he does look a lot like the main hero of those Zelda games! It's the ears. His ears are pointed! That's why an elf came to mind! He stared downwards towards the floor.

"Well, have you heard of creatures known as the moon children?"

I nodded slowly. Where is he going with this?

"I'm apparently one of them but I don't look like them at all. I have been sneaking off recently and investigating what I really am. I found out I'm something called a "human" and that they all hate the moon children cult. I want to know how I ended up with them and where my real family is"

Man I feel very sorry for this kid… He just said he is with the moon children though. I'm sure Emily mentioned something in her notes about a member being called "Ben"… Wait, should I be talking to this boy? What if this is a trap BEN set? Wait, Emily mentioned something about his past! Am I in his past? And if I am does that mean that boy there could possibly be-?

"Hey Ben, what are you doing? Where are you?"

My thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice. The same green moon child that had been with Alice outside the training shop soon appeared from behind a tree near the one "Ben" was hiding behind. Ah, I was right then! That boy is called Ben! Ben jumped a little and folded his arms annoyed towards the moon child.

"Kelbris, why the hell did you scare me like that?"

"Have you forgotten that tonight is the night we pray to Luna?"

Ben's eyes widened.

"Oh no, I almost forgot!"

Kelbris laughed happily.

"Well you're lucky I reminded you! Look there is still time! Let's go to the clearing quickly!"

Ben hesitated for a moment before replying.

"I'll catch up to you in a second. I just need to talk to my friend first"

Wait, my "friend"? Does he already trust me or something? Kelbris glanced towards me with a confused look on his face.

"What friend? I don't see anyone else here!"

"I meant my imaginary friend, Kelbris"

Kelbris frowned annoyed.

"Oh right… Well I'd better get going! You better be in the clearing or else Father will punish you!"

I watched Kelbris quickly dash off. Ben smiled at me innocently.

"The moon children find it hard to see humans with pure souls unless they are wearing a certain mask that Father gives them. I'm glad he didn't see you. We aren't supposed to be conversing with humans you see…"

Ben scratched the back of his head nervously.

"I was wondering if you could help. In order for me to find my real family, I need to run away from the moon children cult after the ritual because that is when they will be distracted. Could you please wait for me here and help me escape?"

I stared at him wide eyed for a moment. He wants me, a stranger he just met, to help him escape from some creepy cannibal looking creatures that could possibly kill me if I don't get away quickly enough? Then again, Emily said that we had to follow the events BEN had set out in advance in order to escape from the dream. In this dream, BEN is showing us his past. Does that mean Ben here escaped from the moon children all those years ago? I really want to help anyway. I mean, it may not change anything but I think Emily's theory was right all along. I am glad I stuck to believing it! I want to help him. Seeing him suffer a second time would probably make me feel guilty.

"Fine I'll help you but don't think I will be very helpful if the moon children catch us…"

Ben smiled happily and dashed towards me, hugging me around the waist. Since he was such a small child I could understand why. I stared down at him surprised as he quickly pulled away.

"Thank you so much! I promise I'll be right back! Please wait here!"

I watched as the little boy dashed off into the forest. So what am I supposed to do now?

"You shouldn't have done that Victoria…"

I froze on the spot, not daring to look behind me. That isn't a voice I recognise. Wait, that's not BEN's voice, is it? Nah, it can't be! This one sounds deeper… Gulping quietly, I slowly turned around. My mouth dropped open when I saw who it was that was standing there. It was the Happy Mask Salesman! Well, at least it wasn't BEN! I frowned at him.

"You know, that statement is starting to get pretty boring now"

"What is your opinion of BEN?"

I folded my arms and stared at him confused. If this is a dream BEN created, could he possibly be testing me?

"I'm not replying to that"

The Happy Mask Salesman continued to stare at me with curiosity present in his eyes.

"I find it strange how so far out of the eight of you, three people have attempted to save BEN even though all of this is a mirror of his past. And yet you're following in their example"

My eyes widened. Is he talking about the others?

"Who has attempted to save him?"

The Happy Mask Salesman lifted up the nearest finger to his thumb and chuckled.

"Not telling"

"Is BEN controlling you?"

"Who said it was just BEN manipulating this dream?"

My hands tightened into fists.

"What are you talking about?"

"BEN has created the dream so he can't control it purposely. It seems he is forgetting who the real villain is here…"

I held up the Ocarina in front of me ready to play if needed.

"You'd better stop talking in riddles before I-"

"The Song of Healing won't save you here Victoria. Emily never realised that you need to know the real meaning of the song for it to work correctly besides healing injuries"

I blinked twice in surprise. Oh crap, I am so dead! Suddenly I heard tiny footsteps quickly approaching from behind. The Happy Mask Salesman smirked.

"Will you fail and fall along with the other three who have attempted to save him?"

I watched the Happy Mask Salesman slowly walk back into the shadows of the trees and vanish from sight. I hadn't realised that there was no light in the forest because it was night time. A sudden tap from behind made me jump in fright. I swirled around to find Ben behind me out of breath and with fear lighting his eyes.

"We need to go quickly! One of the moon children saw me!"

I nodded and quickly followed behind him as we made our way out of the forest.

"_Will you fail and fall along with the other three who have attempted to save him?"_

Damn, his words are playing heavily on my mind! I'll show that Happy Mask Salesman! The two of us managed to escape out of the forest unharmed. Ben sighed with relief.

"I think we're safe for now…"

"Ben, get away from here! It's not safe! It's a trap!"

Kelbris suddenly leapt in from nowhere, causing both Ben and I to jump in fright.

"What do you mean Kelbris?"

Kelbris quickly turned to me.

"Get away from here quickly! You're in danger too!"

Ben's eyes widened.

"How can you see-"

"That doesn't matter! It's fine, I'll protect Ben! You get away from here now! He knows you're here! The Father is coming for you!"

I stared at him for a moment.

"Are you sure you're not the one luring Ben into a trap?"

Kelbris's eyes widened.

"What? I wouldn't do that to my own friend!"

I glanced behind him and saw the Happy Mask Salesman hiding in a bush nearby. Kelbris followed my gaze and gasped.

"You shouldn't have done that Kelbris…"

"Run!"

The three of us quickly dashed away from the forest as the moon children finally revealed themselves. It seems I was wrong about Kelbris… He was trying to help. But why can he see me? The three of us finally stopped just outside Clock Town. Suddenly an idea came to me.

"Kelbris take Ben and get away from here!"

Kelbris stared at me surprised.

"What about you?"

"I'll lure them in here with this"

I showed him the Ocarina. Kelbris nodded stiffly.

"All right, I just hope you come out unharmed. I'll try to get back to save you if I can"

Ben smiled at me.

"Thank you and good luck"

I gave a small smile back and watched the two of them dash away from Clock Town. Well, here goes nothing! I began playing the Song of Healing and slowly walked away from the town. I soon found myself in a field after playing the song quite a few times. I finally stopped playing and glanced behind me. There was no one following me. Did the plan fail?

Suddenly out of nowhere the moon children charged towards me from all sides. They all leapt on me, knocking me to the ground. The Ocarina flew from my hand and landed a small distance away from me. They pinned my arms and legs to the ground as I struggled to get out of their grips. I glanced back towards the Ocarina to find the Happy Mask Salesman had picked it up and was staring at it curiously.

"It's a strange instrument isn't it?"

I growled at him in frustration as I continued to thrash about in an attempt to free myself. It wasn't working… Suddenly eerie music began to play and I felt my body begin to weaken. What the heck is this? I stared back at the Happy Mask Salesman as he stared down at me with that same perverted grin he always has plastered on his face.

"The Song of Unhealing is much more useful than the Song of Healing, don't you think?"

Oh crap, that's the Song of Unhealing? My god, that sounds awful! I can see what Emily meant when she said it felt like her brain was shutting down. The moon children finally released me; however I couldn't move. My body was weighing down towards the ground and I could feel my eyelids slowly closing. My vision began to turn black and was blurring as the moon children stared down at me, chuckling evilly…

* * *

What's going to happen to the others? You'll just have to find out next time! :P Lol!


	7. Chapter 7: The Game Twist

My god, this one took a lot of thinking but I finally managed it! I managed to actually put some of my ideas into this! There was so many that I wanted to use and I wasn't sure which ones but I think the ones in this chapter suit it nicely. Hope you guys enjoy it! :)

* * *

Chapter 7: The Game Twist

**Emily's POV**

"BEN, was that supposed to happen?"

"_Yes, the dream is back to following its original course"_

I sighed with relief. I had been panicking the whole time Hannah, Charlie and Vikki had been wandering around the dream. BEN had noticed the Happy Mask Salesman had been acting unusual. The things he had been telling the others were not supposed to be leaked out, which had worried BEN deeply. I was surprised, especially at one point where he actually went in there to save Hannah and Charlie by knocking some sense into the Happy Mask Salesman, _literally_. Since BEN had been weakened from the moon children smashing the Elegy of Emptiness statue, he had not been able to save Victoria from harm. Luckily Kelbris had been there to help in BEN's past anyway so she managed to get back on track and follow the dream and so did the Happy Mask Salesman. I watched as the screen faded out from Vikki and onto Charlotte and Ellie entering the dream.

"_Something's wrong… I don't remember putting them in a forest to start off with…"_

He sounded panicked. For BEN that is a first! Something must really be wrong.

"Is someone interfering with the dream?"

"_I cannot reveal that"_

"Are you messing with me or are you serious?"

BEN was silent. I don't think he wants to answer the question… Silence fell in between us for several minutes.

"Can't you send one of the characters that you have control of in there to set the situation right and put the Happy Mask Salesman back on track?"

"_Everything is out of my control, remember. I cannot control what goes into this dream or what comes out of it. I can enter this dream and come out of it but nothing else can, at least I can enter the dream once my energy has returned. I made a mistake. I shouldn't have done that…"_

He turned his own statement on himself! That must mean something horrid is wrong!

"Will they be all right?"

Silence filled the air once again.

"BEN, answer me! Are they going to be ok?"

Still nothing was said. Ugh, this would be so much easier if I could see him!

"Don't ignore me BEN! Is something bad going to happen to them?"

"_They will be fine as long as they don't walk off the path to lead them out of the dream. Victoria, Hannah and Charlie have all made it to the final stage of the dream. Charlotte, Ellie, Alice and Megan have yet to follow them. At the moment, Charlotte and Ellie are in the wrong place; however if they can make their way to Clock Town then I'm sure they will be all right"_

"But they don't know their way around Majora's Mask…"

"_Kelbris does"_

"Huh?"

I glanced back up towards the screen and saw Charlotte and Ellie following a frightened looking Kelbris. I sighed with relief.

"I hope you're right BEN. I honestly hope you're right…"

* * *

**Ellie's POV**

Charlotte and I were tossed to the ground roughly as we watched the vortex disappear from sight. The two of us slowly got to our feet and glanced around at the eerie trees and rocky ground surrounding us. Where the hell are we? It was silent, which is never a good thing in these kinds of situations. Charlotte grabbed hold of my arm and held it tightly.

"I feel like I'm in a horror film! I never like horror films and this is one I definitely don't want to scare myself stupid in!"

"Charlotte, don't panic. Panicking never helps. Let's just try and find our way out of this forest before things get out of hand. If we just stand here, we're probably in more danger"

"Yeah, I think you're right Ellie! Let's go quick!"

The two of us quickly dashed through the forest, taking random directions in the hope that we could get out. After a while, we came to the conclusion that we were lost since we had seen quite a few trees that were the same. Then again, all the trees looked the same so… Yeah we didn't know which way to go! Charlotte suddenly halted sharply, staring west towards a particular group of trees.

"Do you hear that Ellie?"

I strained to listen, standing next to Charlotte and even getting up on my tip-toes.

"-And yet you're following in their example"

"Who has attempted to save him?"

"Not telling"

"Is BEN controlling you?"

"Who said it was just BEN manipulating this dream?-"

Those voices… One sounds familiar and the other I don't recognise. The one I don't recognise sounds deep while the other sounds like… Wait is that…?

"Charlotte, isn't that Vikki?"

Charlotte's eyes widened.

"Yeah, I thought I recognised that voice! Are we in her dream?"

"I don't know but if we are does that mean we have to work with her in order to get out the dream?"

Charlotte shrugged.

"I have no idea. Do you know what they are saying?"

"No I don't but it sounds serious! I think we should-"

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

Charlotte and I quickly swirled around terrified to find a familiar looking green moon child staring at us confused. Isn't that Kelbris, the one that followed Alice to the training shop? Charlotte frowned, folding her arms.

"The question is: what are _you _doing here? Last time I checked, you helped BEN lead us into a trap where the moon almost squished us!"

Kelbris's eyes widened.

"Ben? Ben never told me to do it. I was following orders from the Father but I'm glad to see you are all right!"

"What are you talking about?" I questioned, suspicious.

Is he trying to talk his way out of this?

"It's not safe for you two here. Are you trying to get out of the forest?"

"So what if we are?"

Kelbris scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Well I was wondering if you would like some-"

Suddenly out of nowhere Kelbris was grabbed from behind by a familiar man in purple. He swung him over his shoulder and dashed off.

"Hey, get back here with him! Put him down!" I screamed, pursuing them.

"Ellie, wait for me!"

Charlotte and I managed to keep up with the Happy Mask Salesman well. Yes, it was the Happy Mask Salesman who had snatched him! Even though we didn't trust Kelbris very much, if he is claiming to be the only one able to get us out of this forest then I will trust him for now. Plus, the Happy Mask Salesman grabbing hold of him like that had to be suspicious right? It was almost as if he was going to say something the Happy Mask Salesman didn't want revealed. The two of us finally managed to trap him at the top of a cliff. There was an electric fence surrounding the edge of the cliff and it was turned off at the moment. The Happy Mask Salesman skidded to a halt next to the fence with Kelbris still trying to squirm his way helplessly out of his grip.

"You shouldn't have done that Kelbris…"

"Please Father, forgive me! I had to help Ben! He's my friend! I didn't want to betray him. He doesn't belong with the ways of the moon children!"

Charlotte and I halted near the woods and stared the Happy Mask Salesman down angrily.

"What has this got to do with BEN?" Charlotte questioned.

The Happy Mask Salesman had his back to us. He slowly turned around, removing Kelbris from his shoulder and holding him out in front of him with one hand. He was holding Kelbris in mid-air by the scruff of his neck. The Happy Mask Salesman smirked evilly.

"Why are all of you asking about Ben? Why do you all want to protect the entity who has trapped you here all for his entertainment? Four of you have fallen all because they have attempted to try to save Ben from his past or at least, the mirror of his past anyway. One of you thought using this instrument would help you yet it led to her downfall…"

The Happy Mask Salesman held up a blue Ocarina in his other hand and threw it in front of our feet. My hands balled into fists. If he has the Ocarina then that means…

"What did you do to Vikki? Where is she?" I cried angrily.

"I didn't do anything. She merely followed the events of the dream. She and two others are close to leaving the dream but they cannot until you join them…"

The Happy Mask Salesman hung Kelbris upside down and tangled him amongst the fence wires. Kelbris started struggling with all his might; however he wasn't getting himself anywhere. He was just getting himself even more tangled.

"What did you do to the others?"

"Not telling"

We eyed the Happy Mask Salesman suspiciously as he slowly made his way towards the power switch to turn on the electric fence. That was when it hit me like a book to the face! The Happy Mask Salesman is going to electrocute Kelbris! I quickly dashed forward and grabbed hold of the Ocarina. What was that song Emily played again? I watched Charlotte quickly dash forward and leap onto the Happy Mask Salesman's back. The two of them fought viciously as he tried to get her off and prevent her from distracting him further.

"Ellie, play the Song of Time!"

I glanced towards Kelbris who smiled at me weakly.

"It won't save me but I know it will get you out of here and back to the dream you are supposed to be in. You and Charlotte were never supposed to see this but that doesn't matter now. In fact, none of you were supposed to know. The Song of Time will transport you out of here"

"But I don't know how to play it!"

"Put your fingers over the third hole, first hole and then fourth hole. They go in a zigzag order. Repeat this pattern. Good luck"

I prepared to play just as the Happy Mask Salesman finally knocked Charlotte flying off his back. She landed with a nasty thud next to me. Just as the Happy Mask Salesman yanked down the power switch I began to play the Song of Time. Charlotte and I jumped slightly as we watched Kelbris burn and heard his cries for help; however that didn't stop me from playing. A blue light finally surrounded the two of us as we were slowly lifted into the air. The last thing we saw was Kelbris's limp and lifeless body hang silently and still from the fence before everything was blocked out by a white light…

* * *

The two of us suddenly found ourselves back in Clock Town. The Ocarina had disappeared from my grasp. Where did it go? The two of us stood there silently for a moment, slightly shaken. Even though we hadn't known Kelbris for very long, seeing him be murdered right in front of our eyes had been quite a shock. It seemed we were wrong about him from the start but what did Kelbris mean when he said he was helping BEN? I suddenly picked up the sound of crying coming from a nearby alleyway. I peeked around the corner to find a young boy wearing a green tunic, long sleeved white top that was too long for him, a green hat, white tights and brown boots huddled in the alleyway crying. I could feel Charlotte staring at him intently from behind me.

"Should we do something? I have a feeling that might be BEN…"

I nodded stiffly. Just as the two of us were about to go and help him a young woman suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The two of us stayed hidden behind the wall as we watched the woman kneel down in front of the little crying boy concerned.

"Are you all right? Are you lost?"

The little boy stared up at her sadly with teary eyes.

"I don't know. I can't remember anything but my name. I don't know where I am or what's going on"

"Well what is your name then?"

"My name is Ben"

Charley and I froze at the sound of the name. Oh my god, that was BEN there! So, was Emily right? Are we now in his past? Wait, why does he have no memory? The woman put a comforting arm around the boy's shoulders.

"There, there, don't cry. I'll help you find your family. Come with me"

We watched as the woman slowly helped Ben to his feet and held his small hand tightly, gently leading him out the other end of the alleyway. Just as we were about to pursue them, two moon children appeared out of nowhere in front of us. They gave us an evil sneer.

"You shouldn't have done that… You shouldn't have done that…"

They chanted it in sync as a weird sounding song filled the empty air around us. It sounded like a strangled violin noise. Charlotte was the first to collapse onto her knees as I had heard the music a minute after it had reached her ears, or at least that was my estimate for the situation. I could feel my body beginning to weaken and my legs were slowly beginning to collapse underneath me. I glanced helplessly behind the moon children to find a large lush looking field. The moon children were gathered around a familiar looking girl also trying to fight the music on the ground. Isn't that Vikki?

The chanting and music got louder as I finally fell onto my knees helplessly. I glanced weakly towards Charlotte to find her unconscious and still beside me. I could see Vikki trying to stand and fight against the horrid screeching of the music. The Happy Mask Salesman was towering over with the Ocarina gripped tightly in his hands. My eyelids were slowly closing and black dots were beginning to dance around my vision.

"You should know what BEN really is by now. He is toying with you. He is toying with all eight of you. Once this dream ends, all eight of you will finally be in my grasp"

I glanced weakly behind me to find the Happy Mask Salesman giving me a perverted smirk. What does he mean by all "eight" of us? Has he got Emily too? Finally my head hit the floor and I let myself give in, losing every ounce of strength I had to win the fight…

* * *

**Megan's POV**

I landed flat on my face on something hard. From the sound of my face having contact with the floor, it sounded like I landed on wood. I slowly lifted my head up and glanced around at my surroundings curiously. Yep, I was definitely inside someone's house or someone's bedroom in fact. The walls were plain dark blue wallpaper and had a bed with light and dark blue sheets. There was no pattern on either the walls or bed. The floor was wooden and had no pattern printed on it whatsoever. Toy cars and games shrouded most of the floor from view. I could see a young boy with blonde hair and wearing a green tunic with brown boots playing on a gamecube.

I heard a small groan beside me. I jumped a little only to find Alice slowly standing up and brushing herself off. I finally decided to get up too, brushing the dust off my knees. The two of us both glanced behind simultaneously to find the vortex had vanished. Is that it then? Are we stranded here?

"No, no, no, I can't believe I was so close to saving Termina!"

The little boy angrily threw the control down on the floor and leapt up onto his feet.

"Alice, do you know what's going on?" I whispered in fear of the boy hearing us.

Alice shrugged. It was obvious she had no clue either! The boy kept glancing in our direction a few times with his blue eyes; however it seems he wasn't paying any close attention to us. Does he even realise there are two teenage girls standing in his bedroom?

"Ben, stop playing on the game and go out and get some fresh air!"

BEN? Alice and I stared at each other in realisation. That's BEN! How could I have not realised it after what Emily said to us! This is BEN's past! We're in BEN's room! Wait, that sounds awkward. I'm relating this situation to the other Ben aren't I? Damn… Ben sighed heavily.

"All right Mom, I'll go now!"

That's his mom? What the hell?

"I go for a walk in the forest to calm down…" I heard him grumble.

Alice and I watched intently as Ben sulked out the room, slamming the door behind him. The gamecube had been left on.

"I'm going to go and investigate the console first before we follow Ben out the door"

Alice nodded in acknowledgement. I slowly approached the gamecube and stared at the screen intently. This seemed familiar. I slowly opened up the gamecube to see what game was in there. I stumbled back in surprise.

"Megan, what's the matter?"

I pointed a shaky finger towards the cartridge inside the gamecube. Ben had been playing the Majora's Mask game!

"Why the hell was Ben playing that?" Alice wondered.

"Well, there was a file created with Ben's progress on it when Jadusable got the game. According to the old man, Ben was the only previous owner of this game. He was the first one to play it before Jadusable"

"What else do you remember Meg?"

"I remember Emily mentioning that apparently people believed that Ben was killed by the entity that haunted the game cartridge. He was believed to have drowned, hence the name of the game: BEN Drowned"

"Do you know when BEN drowned?"

"No, no one does. Why?"

Alice was looking at me with frightened eyes.

"Ok, well what was the progress of Ben's game when Jadusable got it?"

"I think Emily had said he had finished the third temple. He had yet to complete the fourth"

I watched Alice quickly pick up the control and go back to the home screen. My eyes widened with realisation. Does Alice think that this is the moment where BEN died? The two of us stared at the screen horrified. BEN's last saved progress was at the third temple! Oh my god, Alice is right! The two of us knew what to do straight away. We dashed out the room and out of his house. Luckily we managed to catch Ben walking up the path into the forest. We dashed after him as fast as we could. After a lot of running the two of us finally halted behind a tree as Ben continued to mumble and grumble to himself.

The sky had turned an orangey colour. It was getting late. Why was Ben still here?

"Hey Alice, Megan, you guys ended up here too?"

I know that voice! The two of us quickly swirled around to find Ellie, Hannah, Charlie, Charlotte and Vikki dashing towards us relieved. Why are they all here? Something isn't adding up…

"What are you guys doing here?" Alice asked, confused.

"We don't know!" Hannah laughed. "We all got knocked unconscious in our separate dreams; however we all woke up here in the same place!"

"Yeah, we all found it rather odd" Charlie added. "We were supposed to be separate, weren't we?"

"Yeah, we were supposed to be separated and follow different paths" Alice answered, lost in thought. "Were our events meant to crossover?"

"I don't think so…" Vikki replied. "I have a feeling there is something wrong. This has to be the Happy Mask Salesman's doing"

"Yeah, he has been acting strange!" Charlotte agreed. "It's obvious that he's said stuff that wasn't supposed to be said"

"Hey guys, I think I see Emily over there!" Ellie cried.

We all glanced towards the tree nearest where Ben was walking to find Emily standing there, surveying the situation. Was she lured here too? I dashed forward immediately.

"We're so glad to see you're all ri-"

I had finally reached her but found when I reached out my hand to touch her shoulder, it went straight through. Emily didn't appear to have heard me. I stumbled back in shock. What is this? I heard the others dashing towards me from behind.

"Are you all right Megan?" Vikki asked concerned.

I nodded slowly, not removing my eyes from Emily standing in front of me.

"What happened?" Charlotte questioned, curiously.

"My hand went straight through Emily's shoulder and it seems she didn't even hear me!"

The others stared at Emily confused.

"I don't think this is real" Charlie finally concluded. "I have a feeling we are reliving what Emily might have seen while trapped with BEN. BEN told you that she was trapped in a certain dream when he was speaking to you guys, right Megan?"

I nodded.

"We are being shown what she saw during her time trapped in those dreams"

We all watched intently as Emily became angered. We followed her eyes towards the Happy Mask Salesman's retreating back. Ben was nowhere to be found. Emily quickly pursued the Happy Mask Salesman. The rest of us tried to follow behind her as the scenery began to change to night time next to a lake. By the time we got there we watched on in horror as Ben was thrown into the lake. He began to flail his arms around helplessly. I could see he was mouthing the words "help me"; however I couldn't hear him saying it. I think everything is muted. We continued to watch Emily intently as she dived into the lake and began to quickly swim towards him. As soon as he went under, Emily dived down. Concerned, the seven of us quickly dashed to the edge of the lake to try to spot any signs of Emily or Ben. There was nothing.

"Oh my god, are they all right?" Ellie asked shakily.

"I don't know I can't see them under the water!" I cried.

"Did Emily dive down or was she pulled under?" Alice questioned.

"I couldn't tell from back there" Victoria replied, worryingly.

"I couldn't tell either!" Charlotte panicked.

"Do you think she will be all right?" Hannah wondered, terror filling her voice.

"Don't panic guys I'm sure Emily will come back up!" Charlie assured.

"Well, at least someone has finally worked it out"

We all turned in the direction the voice had come from to find the Happy Mask Salesman smirking at us as usual.

"You are seeing snippets of Emily's stupid attempts to try to save BEN. BEN trapped her in a dream of his own design where he was controlling everything, or at least that is what he thought…"

"All right Happy Mask Salesman, what the hell is going on? Why are we all here?" Hannah questioned angrily.

The Happy Mask Salesman glanced back to the lake. We all followed his gaze curiously as Emily's head shot back up out the water. She began gasping for breath; however she inhaled again and dived back down. She had come up without Ben. Something seemed wrong.

"It's funny you know. She is the only one that appears to be missing. I thought she was with all of you; however she isn't"

"That's because she's been-"

I placed a hand over Hannah's mouth before she could say anymore. Hannah's eyes widened with realisation straight away. She had almost forgotten what we had discussed earlier.

"BEN is controlling you, isn't he?" Vikki questioned suspiciously. "You should know perfectly well where she is without us telling you"

The Happy Mask Salesman chuckled.

"Are you sure you know where she is? If you tell me where you all think she is, I can tell you if you're correct or not"

"Don't toy with us, Happy Mask Salesman!" I screeched angrily. "We know something is wrong here!"

Suddenly everything vanished in a flash of light. We all cried out suddenly as we were blinded by the large amount of white light flooding into our eye sockets.

"_You shouldn't have done that! You shouldn't have done that! You shouldn't have done that!"_

When the light had finally dimmed down, we witnessed Emily standing in front an Elegy of Emptiness statue along with the Happy Mask Salesman beside it. Ben was now floating in mid-air, crying tears of blood with an evil grin plastered on his face. He chuckled evilly.

"You shouldn't have done that…"

We watched on in horror as Ben flew towards Emily. The last thing I heard was Emily cry out in terror…

* * *

I felt my eyes flash open as Alice's, Charlotte's, Ellie's and my screams echoed around us; however I could no longer hear Vikki's, Charlie's or Hannah's screams anymore. I tried to turn my head to the side to see if everyone was ok. I couldn't move my head. Why can't I move my head? I felt something stuck to the front of my face. It felt like a mask… A sudden surge of pain ran through my arms and legs. I couldn't even move them! My legs were glued together while my arms felt stuck to my sides. What the hell is going on?

"Guys, can you lot move?" I heard Alice question, her voice straining.

She must be in pain too.

"I can't" Ellie groaned.

I could hear the pain in her voice too.

"What the hell is stuck to my face?" Charlotte cried, annoyed.

"Something is stuck to my face too!" I replied, trying to pretend I wasn't hurting right now. "I think it might be a mask"

"Where are we anyway?"

"Well, all I can see is that we are in a place made of stone" Alice replied. "I think we might be in some kind of temple"

"Why the hell are we in a bloomin' temple?"

"So you can be created into statues for Luna"

That was the Happy Mask Salesman's voice! Wait, did he just say we were statues? OH MY GOD, HE'S TURNED US INTO STATUES!

* * *

OH NO, THEY'VE BECOME STATUES! Whoops... Sorry, I've had too many skittles again and I'm a bit crazy. (I've become very badly addicted to those lately... I think it's because people keep buying them me). Anyway, time for a little question. Answer this by sending in a review or PM me it if you prefer and I'll let you know if you got it right next chapter but if it is the right answer, I will delete the review if you have posted one so I don't reveal any spoilers. How did BEN lose his memory?


	8. Chapter 8: Who is the liar?

Wow... I wrote a lot more for this than I usually would be hey ho I did it anyway! Whoo! Lol! By the way, if you guys want to check out how my other stories are doing (that's for those viewers who are in more than one section and keep thinking I'm abadoning some of my other stories) then check my profile. I update it most of the time but for a more precise update you should follow the stories. That way you'll know as soon as they have been updated. Right, I now give you Chapter 8! Enjoy! :)

* * *

Chapter 8: Who is the Liar?

**Emily's POV**

Most of the stuff that happened in my dream then wasn't supposed to happen. The Happy Mask Salesman had hinted to me many times that this wasn't really his past in order to stop me from believing BEN was innocent. Is it that the Happy Mask Salesman is acting on his own accord or is there someone else controlling him from the shadows?

"_Your friends seem to be very clever. They have caught on and refuse to tell him anything, yet why is the Happy Mask Salesman questioning where you are?"_

"He wasn't supposed to ask that?"

"_No he wasn't. I wouldn't gain anything from making your friends tell me where you were. I believe there is someone else controlling him; however I don't know who"_

"Do you have any idea of who it could be?"

"_I cannot reveal that"_

"Why?"

"_That question is for another"_

"BEN, please don't start with that again. I'm being honest with you. Why can't you be honest with me?"

"_It is fun to watch you suffer"_

I sighed heavily. I still haven't fully gotten through to him it seems… I stared back towards Alice, Charlotte, Ellie and Megan stuck on the floor of the temple. I felt really sorry for them. They hadn't worked out yet that their only way to get out of the dream was through torture. That is what BEN had originally planned.

"Tell me this. Whatever happens to them in this dream will not affect them in real life, right?"

"_It will not. They will return to be just as they were before they entered the dream. No scars or injuries present"_

I heard BEN suddenly gasp.

"What? What's the matter?"

"_You shouldn't have done that…"_

"What did I do?"

"_Not you Emily. The Happy Mask Salesman is the one I'm talking about. Something isn't right…"_

I leapt back in surprise as a green light suddenly surrounded the spot BEN was supposed to be in.

"Where are you going?"

"_It's no fun to play with a toy that plays back. That is what _he_ needs to learn!"_

And then he was gone. A bright flash lit up the darkness surrounding me. I glanced back towards the screen with worry spread across my face. I felt helpless being left in the dark like this. I know he's hiding something from me. He emphasised "he" in his riddle. Who the hell is the Happy Mask Salesman representing? And what the hell is BEN planning to do? I re-winded the whole scene back to the others watching me in my dream. Just as I dived into the lake I noticed quite a few pairs of red eyes in the background. I quickly froze the image using my hand and shoved my hand forward to zoom in closer.

Those eyes belonged to the Moon Children! They were present in my dream after all! Wait one of the members called Ben was forced drowned by the other members, right? So, if they were present when BEN died that could only mean that the dreams the others have seen are actually other parts of BEN's past! BEN was a member of the Moon Children cult meaning that the Happy Mask Salesman is actually representing "The Father"! Oh my god… The Happy Mask Salesman represented "The Father" in the game anyway from the start! How could I have not remembered? "The Father" was the one who killed BEN! "The Father" drowned BEN! He's the entity! I have a lot of thinking to do! I need to find out which human "The Father" is converting to so the others can stay away from him! I have to try to protect them, even if I'm stuck here!

I dashed off into the darkness. Where the hell is the Majora's Mask game? Where does BEN keep his minions? I need to send someone else in there in my stead to save the others! If four of them are there, the other three are separated somewhere else. I need someone to protect them for me. I can't fight the Happy Mask Salesman alone! I soon found myself running through snowy mountains. Huh? How the hell did I end up here? Suddenly I felt my face come into contact with something hard. I fell back onto my backside to find a Goron standing with its back to me. I watched as the Goron slowly turned around to face me. Hey, he looks like…

"Darunia, is that you?"

The Goron chuckled loudly.

"My name isn't Darunia kid, goro! It's Darmani, goro! You were close though, goro!"

I carefully stood back up again, slightly dazed. Wrong Goron! I'm thinking of the Goron leader from Ocarina of Time!

"Now why are you in such a hurry, goro?"

A small smile appeared on my face as an idea suddenly formed in my head.

"Are you a warrior by any chance?"

Darmani laughed loudly.

"Why of course I am, goro! Why do you ask, goro?"

I stared at Darunia seriously.

"I need your help. My friends are in danger…"

* * *

**Alice's POV**

Of all the things he could have turned us into, it had to be statues. Well at least I know why we were struggling to move and why I have pain shooting through my arms and legs. How has he managed this though? Has he trapped our body from the neck down in cement and let it dry so we can't move? Are we frozen from the neck down in ice? Nah, it can't be ice. I'm not shivering and I feel no cold around me anyway, so I think it's safe to say that option can be ruled out. I could just about see the Happy Mask Salesman towering over us out of the corner of my "mask". I have to say it is pressed really tightly onto my face!

"What the hell have you done to us you creep?" Charlotte screeched angrily.

The Happy Mask Salesman's expression didn't falter.

"You shall join my many collections of Elegy of Emptiness statues. I have sown your arms to your sides and your legs together. I have even sown the Majora's Mask onto your faces…"

"You did what?" We all screeched.

No wonder we are in so much pain! He's trying to kill us! Wait, is this our only way out of the dream? Is this where our life is supposed to end? Who the hell is the real villain here, BEN or the Happy Mask Salesman?

"That's not possible!" Megan retaliated. "There is only one Majora's Mask! How the hell did you get more than one of them?"

"I am an entity remember. I can do what I like really"

"Why did you kill BEN?" Ellie questioned angrily. "We know perfectly well it was you!"

"You do realise that all traitors to the Moon Children must die, right? Ben was a traitor. He ran away from his true place in our cult. Kelbris assisted him. The punishment for such a thing is forced drowning by other members. That is why Ben died"

"You killed him though, so technically it was murder!" Charlotte cried. "BEN was never a part of the Moon Children to begin with, was he?"

"In due time he was supposed to become one of us"

"Wait, we saw you murder him right before our own eyes. Where were the other members, hm?" I questioned, smirking under the mask.

That should catch him out!

"They were there, you just didn't seem them. They were hidden away in the bushes just in case Ben tried to run"

"Stop trying to cover up your lies!"

The Happy Mask Salesman chuckled.

"I am only going to say this once. I will free you from this fate if you answer my question. Where is your friend Emily hiding?"

Silence fell amongst the four of us as we took in the Happy Mask Salesman's words. This is the second time he has asked us this question. This must be the only way out of the dream then. If he is saying that to us, death is our only option. BEN must have been planning this from the start; however we can't answer his question. We all agreed back there a while ago that we shouldn't say a word of Emily's location to him. He won't kill us if we answer his question but I'm sick of being in this dream anyway! None of us belong in here! But wait, I'm confused! Who should we believe? Who is the liar?

"Can we please discuss this amongst ourselves?" I asked as _politely _as I could.

"Very well… I will give you a minute"

I watched the Happy Mask Salesman slowly slink away. He doesn't seem or sound very happy that we are discussing this…

"I don't think we should trust him" Charlotte stated simply. "He's creepy and perverted in his actions and the way he speaks. It's obvious something is going on…"

"But what if it's BEN playing a trick on us?" I asked. "Answering that question could be our key to leaving the dream"

"Yeah but BEN doesn't think like that, does he?" Megan replied. "BEN could be tricking us to see if we take the easiest option"

"But the easiest option isn't always the wrong answer is it?"

"What would BEN gain if we told him where Emily was though?" Ellie replied. "I don't think that is necessarily true. I don't think we should tell him. The Happy Mask Salesman shouldn't be trusted"

"I agree with Ellie. I don't think he should be trusted" Charlotte agreed.

"Have you all come to a final answer then?"

The Happy Mask Salesman slowly slipped back into the room again. We all remained silent. Ellie finally decided to speak up for us.

"Yes we have"

"Are you going to tell me where she is?"

"No way, if we didn't want to tell you back there what makes you think we'll tell you now?"

"You don't want to die, do you?"

"This is just a dream though!" Megan retaliated. "The only way out of it is to die! We won't actually die in real life anyway! We'll wake up back where we were before ending up in this dream!"

"Yeah, so we don't need to answer your question!" Charlotte added. "We're not telling you where Emily is!"

The Happy Mask Salesman chuckled evilly.

"Very well, if that is your final decision then so be it; however there is something I need to tell you. I am in control of this dream now, meaning when you four die you will properly die. You're never going to wake up…"

I felt my whole body freeze. Oh god, he tricked us! He knew we were going to retaliate by saying we weren't going to answer him and so he finally tells us what will happen after we make up our mind! Crap, crap, crap!

"I knew it! You deceived us!" Charlotte shrieked.

The Happy Mask Salesman let out a small evil chuckle. I could see the Moon Children slowly creeping into my view with small knives in their hands. This is it. We're doomed.

"Prepare to face the might of the Mighty Goron Warrior Darmani, goro!"

Who the hell is that and what the heck is a Goron? Next thing I saw was the Moon Children being thrown in different directions. I blinked surprised to find some giant with white fluffy hair around its head, a fat belly and tribal like markings drawn on its brown skin standing in front of me. Is that a Goron then? The Happy Mask Salesman didn't look very pleased.

"Who the hell are you? How did you get in here?"

"I'm helping out a young girl who said her friends were in danger and that you were trying to kill them, goro! This is what happens when you try to hurt innocent children for no reason, goro!"

I watched as the Goron, Darmani I think he said his name is, shot a strong punch forward which sent the Happy Mask Salesman flying into the temple wall nearby. Was that Goron talking about Emily?

"Guys, let's try and get away quickly while there is something trying to distract them!" Megan suggested.

I attempted to try to yank my arms away from my sides and pull my legs apart again; however I was rewarded for this effort by a sharp pain shooting through my body. I cried out in agony, the others crying out shortly after me.

"It's no use!" Charlotte groaned, trying to hide the pain in her voice. "Our limbs are too tightly sown together!"

_There is beauty in your suffering…_

Is that BEN? His voice is sounding inside my head. I glanced upwards weakly to see the Elegy of Emptiness Statue towering over me. Its eyes started to glow a bright red and I began to feel disorientated. I glanced around me helplessly to find the others had vanished. I am alone it seems…

_Alice, don't panic. Your friends are safe. Do not worry. _

What's going on? My vision slowly began to go black.

_I'm glad you did that…_

* * *

My eyes suddenly flashed open and I shot up in my bed, breathing heavily. I glanced around at my darkened room. Oh thank god, I'm back in my room! I felt a nasty pain shoot through my arms and legs. I glanced down at my arms outstretched in front of me, carefully rolling up the sleeves of my pyjamas to get a better look. My eyes widened in horror. Up the right side of my left arm and the left side of my right arm were stray pieces of thread which had been sown into my skin, stained in small blots of blood. Did that really happen?

A sudden flash of light out the corner of my eye caught my attention. I found my laptop lid was up and it was turned on. Did I leave it on before I went to bed and forget to turn it off? A window suddenly popped up. I'm guessing it's Cleverbot. I slowly climbed out of my bed and sat at my desk. It was Cleverbot.

**Cleverbot: Alice, are you out of the dream now?**

**Me: Yeah I am. BEN is this you talking to me?**

**Cleverbot: Who else would it be?**

**Me: Was what happened in the dream your fault?**

**Cleverbot: I cannot reveal that.**

**Me: Why?**

**Cleverbot: I am glad you did that.**

**Me: BEN, stop avoiding my question! You should know better than not to mess with me!**

**Cleverbot: And you should know not to mess with me either… **

**Me: Why was the Happy Mask Salesman asking about Emily?**

**Cleverbot: I cannot reveal that.**

**Me: BEN, answer me!**

**Cleverbot: You are afraid.**

**Me: For god sakes BEN, I am not afraid of you! None of us are!**

**Cleverbot: Play nicely.**

**Me: Not until you do!**

**Cleverbot: You know I never will. It is my nature to be like this.**

**Me: Of course…**

**Cleverbot: What was with the ellipses?**

**Me: Like you don't already know! What about the others? Are they safe?**

**Cleverbot: Some of you are and some of you aren't.**

**Me: Could you specify who?**

**Cleverbot: Yes and no.**

**Me: BEN, answer me!**

**Cleverbot: I just did.**

**Me: Stop annoying me!**

**Cleverbot: It is fun.**

**Me: What is?**

**Cleverbot: It is fun to watch you get irritated.**

I sighed heavily. What was the point in debating with him? It is all part of his mind games. I stared back down towards my arms where the pieces of thread still were. How the hell am I supposed to get that out? Hm, will BEN answer me if I ask him about this?

**Me: BEN, can I ask you something?**

**Cleverbot: Ask.**

**Me: When I came out of the dream, there are still traces of thread sticking out my arms and legs where the Happy Mask Salesman sowed them together and to my sides. They appear to be stained with blood. I'm not sure whether that was really a dream or not if I came out with these injuries afterwards. Did that actually happen?**

After a few minutes there had been no reply from BEN. This seems odd. Have I stumped him or something?

**Cleverbot: What did the Happy Mask Salesman say to you in the dream?**

**Me: Well, he said that he would spare our lives if we told him where Emily was. We refused and he responded with "Very well, if that is your final decision then so be it; however there is something I need to tell you. I am in control of this dream now, meaning when you four die you will properly die. You're never going to wake up…"**

BEN still hadn't responded after that for a few minutes. Is this all confusing to him?

**Cleverbot: All I can say to you Alice is that if that is what he told you and you have come out with these injuries, then he must have attempted to commit actual murder. I wasn't planning for the four of you to properly die in the dream. All the pain you suffered in there you shouldn't have had when you came out again; however I could see the Happy Mask Salesman was actually going to kill you for reasons I don't know of. Do not panic for now. As long as your injuries aren't severe then I assure you that you will be fine. That is all I can tell you, nothing more.**

My eyes were beginning to hurt as I stared at the bright screen in front me. I need to get to bed.

**Me: Goodnight BEN.**

**Cleverbot: Where are you going?**

**Me: Bed. I don't want to talk to you anymore.**

**Cleverbot: That is understandable. You have been through a lot, haven't you?**

Wait, is BEN being nice to me?

**Cleverbot: However I have barely begun.**

I take back what I just said. I minimised all the windows on my laptop and shut it down. I could feel my eyelids starting to close as I tiredly walked back to my bed, my shoulders slumping a little. I'm too tired to even bother arguing with BEN. I couldn't care less if he tries something like that again just to get revenge for cutting off the conversation. I just hope and pray that the others still stuck in there will make it out of the dream safely…

* * *

**Emily's POV**

I watched out the corner of my eye as Darmani was suddenly transported back again. He was still punching the air in front of him when he finally realised where he was. He glanced around confused and then looked towards me for an explanation. I shrugged.

"Don't look at me I have no idea how you were transported back here!"

To be honest, I did know. It was BEN's doing.

"I'm afraid I didn't return back here with your friends, goro…"

"It's fine Darmani! They dashed away from the temple while you were distracting the Happy Mask Salesman!"

Darmani smiled victoriously at me.

"Was that all of your friends then kid, goro?"

"Yes it was. Thank you for the help. I'm very grateful!"

"No problem, goro! Now if you will excuse me, I have to go and fight the monster that has been terrorising my village, goro!"

I watched as he stormed off in a hurry. I smiled sadly, watching his retreating back. I knew what was going to happen to the poor fellow. If only there was a way I could prevent that from happening… I knew there wasn't. I glanced back towards the screen to find what had happened to the other three. By the looks of things, I'm going to need to find someone who can swim this time in order to save them. The first thing that came to mind was the Zoras. I'd better get going!

I quickly dashed off back into the darkness once again. I soon found I was running across sand and towards the sea. I figured out now how to use the darkness to enter into the game. If I visualised what I was looking for, I would end up in the place where that character would most likely appear. Just as I had predicted I could see a light blue figure with a fish like head and small fins where the elbows were supposed to be. It had light blue skin and seemed to be playing a fish bone guitar. Yep, just the Zora I was looking for! This one seems male.

His head snapped up and glanced towards me as I skidded to a sharp halt in front of him. He stared at me confused.

"Hello there. Can I help you with something?"

"You can dive and breathe underwater, right?"

The Zora laughed.

"Of course I am Mikua, a member of the Zoras and guitar player for the Indigo-gos! Our kind _can_ breathe underwater! Why would you ask a stupid question like that?"

Time to put on the saddest expression I can muster.

"My friends are in danger. You see there are these people attempting to drown them and sadly even though I can swim, I don't think I will be able to save them alone…"

* * *

**Charlie's POV**

The only screams that I could hear now were mine, Hannah's and Vikki's echoing around us. I could no longer hear the other's screams. What happened to them? Just as I turned my head to look, I felt myself floating weightless in mid-air and move to the right a little. The three of us shrieked a little as I glanced around at my surroundings intently. We appeared to be in some sort of temple. Behind me weird inscribed letters covered almost all the wall. It was dim in here and the only light present came from two flamed torches on either side of the engraved writing. I tried to move my arms; however I soon found that I had been tied up with one long piece of rope that dangled me in mid-air and pressed my arms tightly against my back.

Victoria was on my left tied up separately while Hannah was tied up on my right, also tied up separately. I glanced down to find what we were all dangling above. There was a large pool of water underneath us that appeared to be quite deep; however from here I couldn't exactly estimate how deep. Trying to get out of this rope at this moment in time didn't seem like such a good idea now…

"How the hell did we end up here?" Hannah questioned, squirming uncomfortably in an attempt to get free of the rope.

"I have no idea but I have to say, that Happy Mask Salesman is one creepy, perverted character in this game!" Victoria replied, annoyed. "What the hell was Nintendo thinking when creating him?"

"Don't forget the statue!" I added. "Who invents a statue with a messed up face like that?"

"Really messed up people, that's who!"

"Exactly" Hannah agreed.

"We're glad to see the three of you have finally awoken from your slumber…"

The three of us glanced towards three Moon Children slowly strolling towards us. The smallest one was at the front. Their eyes appeared to be glowing very red and I could hear the sounds of their faint chuckling echo throughout the temple room.

"Where's your perverted leader? Did he run away and leave you walking skeletons to finish his dirty work?" I taunted as my blood boiled from anger.

"He's attending to… "Other important" matters…" The smallest Moon Child replied, calmly and slyly.

"Let us down from here now you perverted and sick twisted zombie things!" Hannah screeched.

"Wait, what did you mean by "slumber"?"

I'd only just realised that what they said there was out of place. We are already asleep, aren't we? The smallest Moon Child chuckled.

"Very good, you have been paying attention to the events in the dream. All that the seven of you just witnessed with Emily was you being trapped in her dream. You all were knocked unconscious somehow down each event you took. "The Father" trapped you inside Emily's dream flashback to ensure you would remain that way until we had finished with the preparations…"

"And what preparations might that be?" Victoria asked them with her voice slightly shaky.

"So you three will be our main sacrifices!" The tallest one behind the smallest Moon Child laughed.

"What about the others? What did you do with them?" Hannah questioned, angrily.

"Oh don't worry about your little friends… They are being made into statues to help decorate this temple to honour Luna"

Statues! Oh god, I hope those four are all right! Whatever that perverted, sick twisted entity is going to do to them I just hope they aren't going to die or anything! The three of us continued to struggle against the ropes entangling us.

"Now, now, there's no need to struggle!" A third and final Moon Child with a yellow head dress chuckled. "We'll let you down soon…"

"That's what we don't want to wait for!" Victoria cried, fighting harder to loosen the rope.

We watched as the three Moon Children glanced up towards a large hole in the ceiling. I could see the moon slowly beginning to pass over the hole.

"The time will come soon. We just need to wait"

"Oh god, it's going to take a miracle for us to be saved now!" I grumbled, still trying to escape from my restraints.

"Well now that you've finally said that there is a deal that we can propose…" The smallest Moon Child chuckled.

"And what might that be?" Hannah asked, sarcastically. "Yeah, we'd rather not know thank you!"

"Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. You three don't have to become sacrifices you know. If you can tell us where Emily is then we will let you down unharmed"

The three of us glanced at each other thoughtfully for a moment.

"Could you please allow us a moment to discuss your proposition?" I asked in a mock posh accent.

I heard the other two giggle quietly beside me. I do weird things in awkward situations, ok? It's a habit! All three Moon Children raised an eyebrow (Well if they have any!).

"Very well, we will give you one minute to discuss this alone" The tallest one muttered.

Ha, we've annoyed them! Score one to us! We watched as the tallest Moon Child slowly and quietly led the other two out of the room.

"Are they going to give up asking that question already?" Hannah moaned.

"Do you think they are telling the truth?" Victoria wondered.

"Possibly; however we are not giving up where Emily's location is!" I replied firmly.

"I know, they work for the Happy Mask Salesman; therefore they are just as suspicious as he is"

"I agree"

"But they said we were sacrifices meaning we are going to die, right? Is this the only way out of the dream?" Hannah asked confused.

"It might be. There shouldn't be any more events after this one if we are supposed to die so I'm guessing yes, this is the only way out of the dream" Victoria replied.

"Either way we shouldn't be worrying!" I assured. "This is a dream so all the pain we feel now shouldn't follow us out of it!"

"Are you three done talking yet?" The very impatient yellow head dressed Moon Child questioned.

"Yeah, we have come to a decision!" Hannah cried. "Take your damn proposal and shove it up your-"

"Hannah!" Vikki interrupted.

"What I was going to say "shove it up your butt" not "shove up your a-""

"Basically, we are not telling you where Emily is! You should know! BEN is controlling you!" I concluded.

The Moon Children began to chuckle evilly.

"Sorry to break the news to you like this but BEN no longer controls this dream. The Father does meaning that now Luna is at its highest peak in the sky, you three are going to drown!"

"Oh and don't go thinking you will escape from the dream!" The smallest Moon Child added slyly. "When you drown, you three are never going to wake up! You are definitely going to die!"

The Moon Children let out a loud and evil cackle. I felt my blood run cold. I literally froze in mid-air. They lied! They tricked us! They waited deliberately for us to reply without properly telling us the conditions!

"You lied to us! You didn't tell us all the conditions!" Victoria protested.

"Well, you wouldn't have told us either way, would you?"

"Yeah, that is true…" Hannah agreed, staring down intently towards the water at her worried reflection on the surface.

"The time is near!" The tallest Moon Child cried. "Quickly my brethren let's cut the ropes!"

We watched the three Moon Children dash towards us on all fours. I watched as they leapt up high into the air, landing at the top of the rope. They pulled out a small dagger and we all watched with widened eyes as they slowly began to cut each rope. Victoria was the first to drop a little as the first thread keeping it together was cut. She squeaked a little in fear.

"Hold it! You murderers are going to pay for trying to murder innocent people!"

We glanced in the direction the voice had come from to find a talking fish person with blue skin dashing towards the ropes. Yay a talking fish person has come to save us! (I'm being sarcastic here by the way!) The Moon Children hissed angrily.

"Who dares interrupt the ritual?" The smallest one questioned angrily.

"Mikua of the Zora, that's who!"

What the heck is a Zora?

"Oh my god, it's a merman!" Hannah cried.

"Hannah, that isn't a merman. He doesn't have a mermaid tail!" Victoria retaliated.

"I don't care he's a merman to me!"

The Moon Children quickly leapt off the ropes and bounded towards the Zora angrily. Mikua began attacking them from all sides using his fins. Man, they seem really sharp, almost like knives actually!

"Er… Now what do we do?" Victoria asked gulping loudly as she stared down at the deathly water below us.

"I think we shouldn't move" Hannah replied, sighing. "There's no point because they have loosened the ropes a bit anyway. One wrong move and we'll all fall into the water and drown!"

"So do we just wait here helplessly until someone gets us down or even drains the water a bit so we don't go under?"

"Basically, yes!" I concluded annoyed at the fact that there was nothing we could do.

I felt a light tug on the rope. I glanced up to find that slowly and steadily the rope was unravelling. Oh crap… I found myself slowly being lowered down towards the water.

"Charlie, what's going on? Why are you going down?" Hannah questioned, surprised.

"Her rope is unravelling!" Victoria cried. "But wait, why is she the only one that's going down?"

I saw that the Zora had heard them and tried to shove the Moon Children roughly out the way; however his methods seemed useless. The smallest Moon Child sniggered at me and leapt back up onto my rope as I found myself inching further and further towards the water below.

"Here, let me "cut" the suspense for you!" The Moon Child chuckled manically, producing the small knife in its hand.

"Oh no you don't, leave her alone!"

I watched Hannah swing forward, sticking her leg up swiftly in the air. Her foot managed to smack the Moon Child in the face, sending the Moon Child spiralling wildly towards the water; however the rope that held Hannah finally snapped. My eyes widened in horror as Hannah plummeted into the water below.

"Hannah!" Vikki and I both screamed.

_I'm glad you did that Hannah…_

A voice suddenly echoed inside my head. Is that BEN?

(Why? Why did you say that BEN? What good has Hannah done? She's going to die!)

_She will not. You and Victoria both need to follow in her example._

(I am not dying too BEN! Forget it!)

_It is fine. This is the only way out of the dream. I have saved the others as well using this method. Land in the water below and you will find the Elegy of Emptiness Statue. Stare into my eyes. I will save you before you die. That I promise._

(You've deceived us before BEN! How do I know you can be trusted?)

_I allowed Emily to send in that Zora to try to create some form of distraction. What other proof do you need?_

Emily sent in that Zora thing to help us? Then again the Moon Children and the Happy Mask Salesman seem to be the least trustworthy right now… I don't really have much of a choice, do I?

"Vikki, start-"

I glanced behind me, stopping mid-sentence, as I saw that Victoria had lowered herself towards the water.

"I know, BEN told me the same thing!"

"How's Hannah?"

"Hannah disappeared some time ago in a green light. I think BEN already got her out of here"

Wait, what? I glanced back down towards the water to find Hannah had vanished. I could see the Elegy of Emptiness statue waiting for the two of us at the bottom in the corner. The Moon Child that Hannah had knocked into the water was coughing and spluttering at the side, finally managing to escape from the water. I began to quickly squirm around frantically, slowly unravelling the rope further along with Victoria.

"Brethren, don't allow those two to fall into the water! The statue is at the bottom!"

The Moon Children finished off the fighting Zora, finally knocking him to one side and causing his body to scrape the ground roughly as he went. When he finally came to a stop against one of the temple walls I found he was unconscious. At last Victoria and I finally snapped the ropes. The two of us fell simultaneously into the water below. I shivered as the cold water hit against my skin sharply, trying to hold my breath for as long as possible. I glanced into the empty eyes of the Elegy of Emptiness statue and felt myself blacking out. I started to choke violently and my lungs were suddenly on fire. I struggled around helplessly in an attempt to free myself. My vision slowly began to go black…

_I'm glad you did that… _

* * *

I shot awake and began coughing and spluttering up water violently, seeing most of it spill from my mouth and drench my bed covers on top of me. I began gasping for breath in short, sharp breathes as I glanced around at my surroundings. I was finally returned to my room. At last, I'm free of the dream! But wait, why the hell did I cough up water? Did I actually drown? I saw my laptop had been turned on sitting at my desk with Cleverbot loaded up. BEN… Not now! I want to sleep! Groaning tiredly I slowly climbed out my bed and walked over to my desk. I sat down on my desk chair and rubbed my eyes vigorously so I could see what BEN was putting.

**Cleverbot: Are you out of the dream now Charlie?**

**Me: Yeah and all I want to do is sleep so bog off.**

**Cleverbot: Did anything happen when you woke up just?**

**Me: Well I coughed up water. Why do you ask?**

BEN didn't reply for a few minutes. What did I do?

**Cleverbot: It appears my suspicion is right…**

**Me: Care to share your thoughts on this? What the hell happened back there? **

**Cleverbot: All I can tell you is that the Happy Mask Salesman attempted to murder you. It seems that he was trying to take over the dream, or he already had. I'm not sure. That is all I can tell you.**

**Me: Well, what about the other two? Are they all right? Are they safe? What about everyone else? Did they escape? **

**Cleverbot: Yes and no.**

**Me: BEN, stop your stupid riddles!**

**Cleverbot: No need to be cranky.**

**Me: I'm only cranky because it's 3 in the morning and I want to sleep and for most of the night I've been stuck in some creepy dream where I almost died! Of course I'm going to be cranky!**

**Cleverbot: Well, goodnight then.**

**Me: BEN, get back here! I'm not finished with you!**

My laptop suddenly shut itself down. Growling angrily at the screen I slowly walked myself back to bed and lay down tiredly. I'll deal with BEN's crap tomorrow and even though I don't seem concerned about what BEN has just told me, I am. BEN's just annoying me right now and I'm tired so… Then again, I shouldn't have blown up at him. What he told me was more or less useful. So the Happy Mask Salesman had really taken over the dream, just like the Moon Children said. He was trying to murder us but why…? Is it the fact that it had something to do with BEN? Is BEN the reason why he was trying to kill us? My god, who is the liar here?


	9. Chapter 9: Connecting Dots

This took me quite a while to do; however I have finally accomplished this at last. I maybe slow with updating this since I have a Tales of the Abyss: Truth or Dare fic that I'm continually trying to update as well. Thanks to those who have reviewed, favourited and followed this fic. I now give you chapter 9! :)

* * *

Chapter 9: Connecting Dots

**Charlotte's POV**

Last night was absolute hell! I did not sleep for the rest of the night, especially after seeing that I definitely almost died in that dream due to the thread sticking out of my arms and legs! It was ridiculous! Luckily without damaging anything I'd managed to remove the thread from my skin. I think the others had as well; although I'm not entirely sure.

At lunch the next day we all gathered around our usual table in the canteen to discuss this topic over and get to the bottom of what we saw and what Emily had explained to us previously. I could tell by the looks on their faces that we all were tired from last night's nightmare.

"So you guys ended up spluttering up water?" I questioned, shocked.

"Yep, that's pretty much what happened to us…" Hannah answered, yawning loudly. "They tied us up and hung us above a large pool of water to be sacrificed to Luna. We heard you guys were being turned into statues"

"Yeah, we woke up with pieces of thread still sown in our arms and legs" Megan added. "We were being turned into statues to decorate the temple"

Megan shuddered at the thought. I don't blame her! It was quite a blood chilling experience.

"So what are we going to do about BEN's past then?" Alice wondered.

"Well, why don't we try to put it in order of how it happened to get a clear structure of what led up to BEN's death?" Vikki suggested. "So whose was first?"

Everyone glanced at each other eagerly, waiting patiently for an answer.

"Er, I think it might be mine and Hannah's" Charlie finally spoke. "We saw BEN, or at least a baby that we thought might have been BEN, in an alleyway wrapped up in a white sheet. Hannah said she witnessed the baby's mother being killed near the opposite entrance to the alleyway. Even though we attempted to try to get BEN away from the Happy Mask Salesman, we think that BEN might have been found by the Moon Children shortly after the mother's death and the Happy Mask Salesman christened him as "Ben" there and then"

"Hm, so we obviously know why he was called "Ben" to begin with" Ellie commented. "But why was his mother killed?"

"She apparently followed in the ways of the Moon Children; however she tried to prevent BEN from becoming one and got killed as punishment, or at least that's what I heard him say!" Hannah replied, shrugging. "So whose dream came next then?"

A deadly silence fell around the table as we all glanced at each other again intently.

"Erm, did anyone else's involve BEN being with the Moon Children as a young child at all?" Vikki wondered, finally speaking up.

Me, Ellie, Alice and Megan shook our heads in reply.

"Then that must mean mine was the next one. Right, well what I got out of mine was that BEN had been with the Moon Children from birth. BEN spoke to me and from what he said he had worked out that he wasn't really a part of the Moon Children cult and he wanted to find his real family. I'm unsure whether he actually got away or not, but I think him attempting to escape after a ritual for Luna took place did occur; however he asked me to help him so I'm unsure whether that did actually happen. Oh and that green Moon Child Kelbris helped him as well"

"Wow, were the Moon Children really that bad?" Hannah wondered out loud.

"I don't think he believed that but the Happy Mask Salesman really didn't want him to leave…"

"That is actually kinda creepy!" Ellie commented, gulping quietly. "This Happy Mask Salesman sounds like a pedo more than anything!"

"So that just leaves Charlotte and Ellie and me and Alice" Megan pointed out while looking at her phone.

Hm, wonder what she is doing…

"Charlotte, what happened to you and Ellie then?" Alice asked, curiously.

"Well the part that was related to BEN was when we ended up in Clock Town the second time we warped. We found a boy who we believed to be BEN sitting in the alleyway on his own crying his eyes out. A woman found him and when speaking to him apparently he couldn't remember anything but his name. Then the woman took him out the alleyway to help him find his parents"

"He lost his memory?" Charlie repeated, lost.

"Yeah, that's what he said"

"How's that possible?" Vikki questioned, confused. "How could he just lose his memory by escaping from the Moon Children?"

"Maybe the Happy Mask Salesman had something to do with it" Hannah suggested.

"Yes Hannah maybe" Megan agreed, murmuring while continuing to look at her phone.

What the hell is she looking for?

"Wait, what did you mean by second part? What was the first?" Alice pressed.

"We don't know if this is related to the subject so we'll leave that bit until after" Ellie explained. "So Alice, what happened to you and Megan?"

"Well we ended up in a bedroom which belonged to BEN. He was playing the Majora's Mask cartridge and appeared to have lost the game. Out of temper he left the house and went for a walk in the forest, which then led him to be kidnapped by the Happy Mask Salesman and drowned"

"So that means Charlotte and Ellie's event came next, making Alice and Megan's event come last" Hannah summarised. "What about this other event you were talking about Ellie?"

"Well, we ended up in the forest before we went to Clock Town. There we met Kelbris who was going to offer help to get us out of the forest; however the Happy Mask Salesman grabbed Kelbris and dashed off with him. We pursued him to a nearby cliff where he tangled Kelbris up in electric fence wires and electrocuted him"

Everyone was deadly silent and shocked at what had just been said.

"He killed Kelbris?" Victoria repeated shocked. "Did he say why?"

"We heard Kelbris say something about assisting BEN" I replied solemnly. "I think it might be linked to yours Vic"

"I don't think that was a punishment" Megan added. "It says here on Wiki that Kelbris was found by fellow members electrocuted. The Happy Mask Salesman must not have told them about what happened, meaning he murdered Kelbris"

"So does that mean that event slots in after Vikki's events and before Ellie and Charlotte's events in Clock Town?" Alice wondered.

"It seems that way" Charlie replied, sighing. "This is all just one big damn mystery! BEN's past is more of a puzzle than expected… So was BEN really part of the Moon Children cult as well when he died?"

"That's the confusing thing!" Megan intervened. "I just found something else about the member Ben. It says he was forced drowned by other members"

We all stared around the table at one another confused.

"But didn't the Happy Mask Salesman drown him?" I questioned confused. "We saw him get thrown into the lake and Emily dive in to help!"

"I know, I didn't see anything either…" Ellie added.

"Wait, I think I remember seeing something!"

We all turned to look at Victoria with widened eyes.

"When was this?" Charlie pressed. "You never spoke up about it before"

Victoria shrugged.

"I didn't think it was real, I thought I was hallucinating!"

"What did you see?" I asked eagerly.

"Well, I could just see Emily swimming towards BEN the first time and trying to grab his hand; however her hand went straight through his, similar to how Megan's hand went straight through Emily's shoulder. There was something pulling BEN downwards by his ankles. I have a feeling it was one of the Moon Children's hands-"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Everyone looked at Hannah with widened eyes.

"What's the matter?" Megan questioned, concerned.

Hannah pointed a shaky finger towards the window. Our gazes soon crossed with a very familiar one. It was the old guy who sold Jadusable the game! We all froze on the spot as he began to write on the window with his finger. He was writing in blood. I heard Ellie swallow hard.

"What the hell is he writing?"

Alice and Charlie strained to look, leaning over the table a bit.

"It says: Someone knows too much…" Alice began.

"Someone has been paying too much attention…" Charlie continued.

"That someone is like Emily…" I read, biting my lip a little.

"They must go…" Ellie gulped.

"They will work it out…" Megan read thoughtfully.

"They are too close to the answer…" Hannah mumbled.

"They once held the Ocarina in hand…" Victoria read quietly.

"They played the song that cures all… Beware knowledgeable one, for you shall go the same way your friend did…"

We all read the last bit out together. Everyone glanced towards Victoria.

"Don't tell me you think he means me!"

"Well Emily gave you the Ocarina Vikki so…" Hannah replied, fading out.

"But Ellie played the Ocarina as well to get us away from Kelbris!" I pointed out.

We all glanced between Ellie and Vikki confused.

"Ellie, what song did you play? Do you know?" Charlie questioned.

"I think it was the Song of Time"

"Vikki what did you play?"

"The Song of… Healing…"

Her eyes widened in realisation.

""They played the song that cures all…" Oh no, he did mean me! I'm gonna disappear like Emily!"

Victoria placed her head on the table. We all remained silent. We had no clue what to do in this situation.

"Now, now, let's not panic!" Charlie assured. "Let's all just-"

"He's writing something else!" Hannah cried.

We all glanced towards the window again to find something else being added underneath.

"There is another who isn't far behind, this one won't have to wait in line, the next one who will suffer their fate, is the one who played the Song of Time" Megan read.

Ellie's eyes widened.

"What? I'm next?"

"Don't panic!" Charlie cried. "Everyone just calm down and listen to me please. I have an idea!"

Everyone turned to Charlie curiously.

"Let's think about this carefully. Emily didn't get taken until she was left alone in her room in front of a screen; therefore, all Ellie and Vikki have to do is be in the same room as someone else and keep away from any computers. See, simple"

"Yeah, I think Charlie's idea might work" Alice agreed.

Victoria and Ellie sighed with relief then.

"As long as we stick together in school and sometimes out of school, no one will disappear. So now that we have more or less pieced most of BEN's past together, what's our next step?"

"Well Emily instructed us to find the Song of Unhealing and play it in front of her laptop" I answered. "But we can't because her laptop is at her house"

"Well, should we just try using a laptop of someone's that has already had BEN infect it?" Victoria suggested. "As long as BEN has already gone to that laptop then we should be fine, right?"

"Yeah, I agree with Vikki" I agreed. "I mean, we could each try each other's laptops to ensure it works"

"But then what about Victoria and Ellie?" Hannah asked. "They would be on their own then. It's not safe for them to be near a laptop"

"How about we all go into pairs and check the infected laptops?" Charlie suggested, shrugging. "Mine has had BEN hack it. Hannah's has. Anyone else?"

"BEN's hacked my laptop" Alice replied. "That makes three, right?"

"Yeah, that should be fine. So someone needs to go with Hannah, me and Alice to check to see if the song of Unhealing works"

"I'll go with Charlie" I offered.

"I'll go with Alice" Megan replied.

"I guess that leaves me and Vikki going with Hannah" Ellie concluded.

"Right, I'm glad that's sorted!"

"Er, guys I have just found something" Megan intervened, gulping. "It says here that the Happy Mask Salesman is representing the Father during the game"

We remained silent as our eyes widened in shock. Hannah suddenly clicked her fingers in realisation.

"Wait, that just made me remember something from the dream! The Moon Children told us that the Father was controlling the dream, not BEN! They also said Megan, Alice, Charlotte and Ellie were with him too! Do you guys know what this means? Charlie, Vikki, do you two remember?"

Charlie's eyes widened with realisation, while Victoria bit her lip.

"The Happy Mask Salesman was the Father, meaning he was the one torturing us! He wanted to murder us!" Charlie cried.

I watched Vikki glance back towards the window, lost in thought. We all followed her gaze to find the old man was gone. We all sighed with relief.

"Seriously, do you think that guy is some kind of pedo or what?" Hannah asked.

We all laughed happily. It made me feel a lot better! See BEN, you can't scare us! We are stronger together! We have each other and you have no one! Vikki seemed to be contemplating something. Has she realised something the rest of us haven't?

* * *

**Emily's POV**

My eyes widened when I heard them discussing a tactic to actually play the Song of Unhealing, even after that incident. Why are they still going ahead with this? Why did I tell them that? I've put them in danger!

"_So, the old man is taunting two of the girls now. This should be interesting…"_

"The Father is the old guy in his human form, right?"

"_Yes, he is. The Father is the one that appears to be behind what happened in the dream, just as you suspected. And it seems Victoria thinks exactly the same thing"_

"Why's that?"

"_She appears to be lost in thought. The reason why the Happy Mask Salesman might be after her is all down to the fact that she is coming up with her own theories, which she isn't sharing with the group in fear they could be wrong. Ellie is partly the same; although she mentions most of the things that she believes is correct"_

"What will happen if they play the Song of Unhealing?"

"_Nothing will happen to them. There is nothing in that song that can actually put them to harm"_

"But, it's the song of "Unhealing"! It reverses the effects of healing injuries!"

"_Emily, you remember what the Happy Mask Salesman said to Victoria, don't you? _"Emily never realised that you need to know the real meaning of the song for it to work correctly, besides healing injuries"_. Think about a song in general. That should reveal the answer"_

I sat down on the ground and thought about what BEN had said, just as Victoria, Ellie and Hannah came onto the screen in Hannah's room. What is unique about a song?

* * *

**Hannah's POV**

Weeks passed from our last discussion. We all had arranged a day where we could go round each other's houses to get this whole problem solved once and for all. We had not heard a word from BEN since that day, which we all found to be quite suspicious. We all kept our guards up to ensure BEN wasn't planning a surprise attack on us or something. Vikki and Ellie were the ones that were the most wary. I don't blame them for being paranoid after what was said to them! I'd probably be the same if I was told by some creepy computer ghost that you would be kidnapped!

Anyway, Vikki and Ellie arrived at my house at around 12ish on Saturday. We'd all agreed to do research while we were there as well in case our plan somehow went wrong. We found the Song of Unhealing through youtube. After clicking play, the three of us sat as far away from my laptop as possible. This was on my bed with our backs against the wall, covering our ears with both our hands. My room is very small, so it's hard for us to stand back from my laptop without falling back onto my bed. The song was horrible! Ellie and Vikki had apparently heard it before anyway, since they heard it in their dreams. Once the song had finished nothing appeared to have happened. Ellie sighed annoyed.

"Great, it hasn't worked!"

"Maybe it wasn't loud enough?" Vikki suggested; however it came out as more of a question than an actual statement.

"Perhaps it wasn't the right song" I shrugged.

"No, that definitely was it!" Ellie protested. "That is the same one that I heard in the dream!"

"I agree with Ellie" Vikki agreed. "It was"

Something then seemed to have caught Vikki's attention. I watched her slowly climb off my bed and make her way over to my laptop.

"Hey, should we try this one?"

Ellie and I stood behind her as she pointed towards a particular video in the suggestions section. The title read "Oliver – Song of Unhealing".

"Hey, isn't that one of those Vocaloid things that Emily listens to?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah, I think it is" I replied. "If they are singing the song, that must mean there are lyrics to it. Would it work if it had lyrics to it?"

"Probably, let's give it a go"

Just as Vikki was about to select it with the mouse, something flashed up on the screen making the three of us shriek in fright.

"Don't touch that video!"

We glanced towards the screen to find a familiar face in complete darkness. It was Emily.

"Emily, is that you?" Ellie asked as the three of us quickly gathered around my laptop.

"Yes Ellie it is, don't touch that video!"

"_I see you have finally understood what was said Emily"_

That sounded like BEN in the background.

"Why can't we click on the video?" Vikki asked, curiously.

"The song is dangerous that's why. Sure, nothing happened to you with just the instrumental of the song, but what about with lyrics? It could cause something terrible. Don't touch the video!"

"Oh yeah, BEN we have a bone to pick with you!" Ellie cried. "Why are you threatening to make me and Vikki disappear?"

Emily seemed confused by what Ellie had just said.

"_What do you mean?"_

"Don't act dumb with us BEN!" Victoria growled. "You sent that old guy to warn me and Ellie about knowing too much! You are going to do what you did to Emily because she was close to working out the answer!"

Emily side glanced towards the left. I'm guessing that is where BEN is supposed to be. She bit her lip in worry.

"Er guys, I hate to worry you but BEN is not the one who sent that old guy after you-"

"_Emily, it is dangerous for them to know the truth. Until you all work out a way to get to Emily, I am not allowing anything to be revealed"_

"But BEN, they will be in danger if we don't-"

The screen suddenly turned black. We all jumped back in surprise as it flashed back onto the youtube page again. We all stared at the screen surprised.

"Well, that was unexpected…" I commented.

Vikki stared back towards the video.

"I think we should just research some more"

"But Emily said it _might_ be bad!" Ellie protested. "You never know, perhaps that video might open a way into BEN's world!"

"It's still risky though" I added. "Let's just leave it for now and look on Wiki for more info"

I glanced towards Vikki curiously. I bet she knows something that the rest of us don't…

* * *

**Emily's POV**

"BEN, why did you do that?"

"_It's dangerous for them to know. If the old guy is the Father in human form, he will track them using the Song of Unhealing with lyrics. Why do you think he questioned Victoria about the true meaning of the Song of Healing in the dream?"_

"Are you saying that the Song of Healing can do more if used with lyrics?"

"_Exactly; however, since the Song of Unhealing is the reverse version of the Song of Healing, the lyrics will be backwards too. Whatever good effect the original lyrics had will be turned against them if played backwards. Therefore, if the girls were to play the Song of Unhealing with lyrics…"_

"They could harm themselves and reveal their location"

"_Precisely"_

So, does that mean each song has a certain meaning depending on the lyrics used?

"This mystery involves more than one song, doesn't it? And some of these come from Ocarina of Time as well, don't they?"

BEN chuckled. Wow. BEN actually laughed, and not in an evil, insane way either. It was a small child like laugh.

"_You are almost there. You just need to work out the songs to use. Once you do that, I'll allow you to give the girls hints to help them. I have a feeling the Father is interfering with things. Your friends are in danger, something I wasn't planning on happening. You need to fix it"_

I felt a cold chill fly past me quickly.

"BEN?"

There was no reply. It seems he's left. I sat down in front of the screen and thought about what he said. I know that the Song of Healing is one song I need. It can't be the Song of Unhealing since it is quite dangerous. What other songs are there? Well, there is also the Song of Time. That song is used in both Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time and Ellie used it in the dream. That's two-

Suddenly the screen turned on, making me jump. It was selecting options of its own accord. The main menu appeared and it selected a game file with "Hannah, Megan and Victoria" on it. What's it doing? Victoria suddenly appeared sitting on her bed, lost in thought in her bedroom. Huh, what's going on? I then thought about what BEN said earlier. Maybe I should speak to her to confirm her theories. That should get her out of trouble from the Father.

* * *

**Victoria's POV**

I sat there staring at my laptop on my bed. A lot has happened today, I will admit that. Not just today though, over the last couple of weeks or so too. As you can probably see, I'm still here. It seems the little idea that Charlie came up with has worked so far. Ellie and I have kept away from our laptops and haven't touched them since that day. Even though I'm alone now, it doesn't matter as long as I don't touch the laptop; however, that is what I'm arguing with myself about now.

You see, I have been thinking a lot about the old guy that has appeared twice and given us those warnings and such. He knows things about Ellie and I. The only person who knew which songs we played was the Happy Mask Salesman. The Moon Children had said back in the dream to me, Charlie and Hannah that the Father was controlling the dream. Megan had found the Happy Mask Salesman represents the Father in the game. Therefore, put all these things together and what do you get? The Father is the one behind this whole thing. He is the old guy coming to us.

I suspect that the Father is the enemy here and is working against BEN, despite the fact he's a minion of his. He's the reason why BEN is an entity ruining the lives of others. The Song of Unhealing is his key to getting to me and Ellie. He wanted the two of us to play the song with the lyrics. That's why he told me what he did back in the dream. The true meaning of the Song of Healing is in the lyrics. The Song of Unhealing is the reverse version of that; therefore whatever the good things the lyrics will bring, it will be the opposite when put in reverse. That was why Emily didn't want us to click on that video.

I wanted to so badly go on my laptop and ask BEN about my theories; however I can't. It's too risky. The Father could get hold of me if I'm not careful. That's why I'm here like this in my room. I'm debating with myself. Seems stupid I know, but the quicker we get to the bottom of this mystery, the quicker we can save Emily and possibly BEN in the process.

I stared intently towards my blank laptop screen longingly. Should I ask him on Cleverbot? Surely he'll reply to me right? I jumped back in fright when my laptop switched itself on and logged itself in. My webcam turned on and soon a small screen came up. Everything was dark at first; however I could make out from the screen in front of them that the person contacting me was Emily.

"Vikki, it's me! BEN's gone for the moment, so I don't have long"

I quickly climbed off my bed and sat in front of my laptop.

"Why are you contacting me?"

"I know you have been coming up with theories that you haven't told the others. To get you out of trouble, I want you to tell me everything. I can correct you if it isn't right"

I sighed heavily. Well, Emily is the only person closest to BEN at this moment in time. She must know something. She knows BEN Drowned better than I do.

"Well, I've come to the conclusion that the old guy is in fact The Father in human form since he seems to know things that Ellie and I did in the dream. What he told me about the meaning of the songs I think is related to the lyrics. We shouldn't play the Song of Unhealing with lyrics in case something dangerous occurs. That's all I know"

Emily nodded.

"You're right"

My eyes widened. Wow. I was actually right!

"However, the songs that you and Ellie played are key for you to get in here. You need to find the lyrics as quickly as possible. Time is running out. There are songs in the game Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that should be able to help you too. I need your help in finding the others. BEN has given me a clue saying we need songs. You need to find the song that opens the portal to BEN's world. Once you've done that, find the rest before you come in here; however if the situation gets bad, use the portal to escape from the danger"

So we need songs to get to Emily? I see…

"Can you give me the name of any youtube videos with lyrics?"

Emily nodded. I quickly pulled out a pen and decided to write this down on my hand.

"The videos you will need are: Oliver – The Song of Healing and Megurine Luka – The Song of Time (MM Version)"

"MM?"

"That's Majora's Mask"

"Ah…"

Emily smiled.

"Were you guys alright when you left the dream?"

"Just about, except Alice, Charley, Ellie and Megan still had thread sown into their arms and legs with blood on them and Charlie, Hannah and I coughed up water. By the way, did you send in a weird looking creature called a Zora to help us?"

Emily's eyes widened.

"How did you know it was me?"

I smirked.

"BEN told me and Charlie when we were still in the dream through telepathy. At least I think it was telepathy. Have you been alright?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. BEN hasn't harmed me, in fact I think I've kinda gotten through to him a bit. He's still refusing to answer some of my questions; however he is being more open with me than he was when I first talked to him"

"_You shouldn't have done that Emily…"_

I watched Emily sigh.

"BEN, I haven't revealed anything I wasn't supposed to. I was just checking to see if what Vikki was thinking is true"

She turned back to me.

"I'd better go. Tell the others I said hi and please be careful"

I nodded stiffly.

"Don't worry, I will"

The screen suddenly disappeared. I quickly shut down my laptop and moved away from it back to my bed. At last, we have a lead to go on!

* * *

What's going to happen next? Find out next time! :P


	10. Chapter 10: Oh god, what have we done!

**A/N: This was my reaction when I saw how many times this story was getting reviewed: O_O Lol! XD I'm not even joking! How did it suddenly become so popular in this area of the site, I mean seriously?! There are other stories here that have a better writing style than mine, yet you all gave the attention to my story? Just... I have no idea what to say. Seriously, thanks to everyone who reviewed this fanfiction. Seriously, thanks. **

**And the theories you guys have come up with is very interesting. Very interesting indeed. And to the person who mentioned about whether BEN may like Emily, BEN uses the saying "There is beauty in your suffering..." to Jadusable too. But, it isn't a bad theory. In fact, if I had planned that to happen, then it could have worked, maybe... ._.**

**But anyway, I would have updated this sooner, but I have life problems to sort out, and I have an exam next week to prepare for so... It's pretty hectic for me right now! XD I promise I will try to update this as soon as possible, once I sort out my other stories too.**

**And now, here we have Chapter 10 of "You shouldn't have done that..."! Enjoy! ^_^**

* * *

Chapter 10: Oh god, what have we done?

**Victoria's POV**

The next day at break in our usual area, I discussed with the others about what Emily had told me previously. They seemed surprised at the facts that had been presented to them, but they all understood what I was talking about.

"So, we need to find the song with lyrics that will open up the portal into BEN's world?" Charlie concluded.

I nodded stiffly.

"Yes. That is what Emily told me"

"I can see why we need lyrics anyway" Megan replied. "The lyrics tell a story. They show what the song is about. That is the key of it really"

"So, what songs has Emily given you already?" Hannah asked curiously.

"The Song of Healing and The Song of Time, the two songs that Ellie and I played in the dream. Apparently there are more though. She gave me the YouTube video names"

"I think we should have a look at the ones already given to us. It might be one of them" Megan suggested. "Here, I'll look it up on YouTube"

Megan loaded YouTube up on her phone, and I showed her my hand which still had the YouTube videos names on it. She searched for the Song of Healing one first, and it came up with a young boy with blonde hair on the screen. He was wearing a small sailor's outfit and a bandage across his right eye. One was blue and the other with the bandage on it was slightly red. Putting her earphones in, we listened to the song two at a time. For some reason, the young boy singing it made me think of BEN. I have no clue why. I'm guessing it's because he was a young boy when he died.

The song that was playing was definitely the song of healing. The lyrics matched it perfectly. I could see why Emily had chosen this video. After the song had finished, Alice shook her head.

"No, this one doesn't sound like the one. Let's try the other one"

We listened to the Song of Time one then, which Ellie said sounded like the song she played on the Ocarina. I noticed that the woman, Luka I think her name is, occasionally skipped a bit when pronouncing the words. Well, Emily did mention that some of these Vocaloids were Japanese… That's probably why. Other than that, the song sounded fine. When it finished, everyone seemed really happy.

"I think this is the song!" Charlotte cried happily. "You all heard it didn't you? "Open the gates to Termina, let in the light". That must mean this is it!"

"How do you know that other songs might not have something similar?" Ellie questioned. "I think we should continue searching first, that way we will find the answer to whether this song might be it"

"I agree with Ellie. We need to look up all the songs from Majora's Mask" Hannah agreed.

"Emily said to use Ocarina of Time too, since apparently Majora's Mask is its sequel" I added.

Charlie nodded.

"Alright then, we will do that. We'll split up the search into two groups. Megan, Ellie and Vikki will look up songs from Ocarina of Time. Me, Alice, Hannah and Charlotte will look up songs from Majora's Mask. Once we have played them and gathered all the possibilities, we will meet over at someone's house and play each song until we open up the portal"

"But wait, Emily said we shouldn't play any songs with lyrics in case it reveals our location" Hannah retaliated. "I think we should just pick one and have a one shot at it"

"But what if it isn't the right one and the old guy gets to us?" Charlotte asked.

"What if none of them are the right ones and we still get caught? Exactly, we don't know until we try" Charlie replied sighing. "We're running out of options and time. Our lives and the safety of Emily's depend on our choices. We can't stay in safety forever. We've got to go outside the box in order to get answers now. Playing it safe isn't getting any of us anywhere"

I glanced towards the door at the other end of the corridor that led outside and gasped. I didn't need to tell the others why I had become like this since they all turned their heads in the direction I was looking. The old guy was lurking in front of the glass window part of it, with his dead eyes staring straight into my terrified ones.

"Is the old guy there again?" Alice asked confused. "I can't see him"

"I can't either" Hannah agreed.

"Yeah, neither can I" Megan replied.

"Me and Charlie can't see him either" Charlotte added, and Charlie nodded stiffly in response.

"Well I can" Ellie commented quietly.

"And so can I" I replied, gulping a little.

Alice frowned at this.

"Why can only those two see him?"

Just as Ellie went to walk towards the door, she suddenly fell and collapsed onto her side. Everyone immediately moved to go and help her; however I soon found myself falling onto my side as well. My head was spinning horridly. I noticed Megan had seen this too and alerted the others; however, I couldn't really make out what she was saying. Her voice sounded far away. I glanced weakly towards the window to find the old guy smirking at me. Megan and Hannah were soon at my side, gently shaking me and asking me if I could hear them. I couldn't reply. My mouth wouldn't move. This little incident had aroused some of the teachers standing on duty in the area. I felt my mind slowly go blank as my eyes closed and my vision darkened. The last thing I saw was my form tutors kneeling down beside me…

* * *

**Ellie's POV**

I woke up suddenly to find myself lying on… dirt? I was in school a moment ago, right? I'm sure I was! I remember being with the others, then falling to the floor after seeing the old guy, and then I heard Megan say that Vikki had collapsed and- Vikki! Where is she?! And where is everyone else?! And where am I?! I glanced around to find myself outside of a temple in the middle of a forest. And lying beside me on the ground was Victoria. Oh god, this is that old guy's doing! I just know it!

I quickly sat up and gently shook Vikki beside me.

"Vikki! Victoria, wake up!"

Vikki slowly opened her eyes and shot up. She glanced around her terrified.

"Oh god, where are we?"

"Exactly, I have no clue either. I think the old man is to blame for this. We were fine until he showed up!"

Suddenly a familiar tune glided through the air and reached our ears. Vikki and I quickly stood up and stared intently towards the temple. That was where the music was coming from. I glanced at Victoria concerned.

"Should we follow it?"

Victoria looked back intently towards the temple and sighed heavily, flicking a bit of hair out of her face.

"I don't think we have much of a choice really"

Gulping loudly, Vikki and I slowly started walking towards the temple. The tune was definitely coming from there. It was getting louder the closer we got to it. When we finally reached the steps, we decided we'd had enough of taking our time. We wanted to get out of this nightmare right now. The two of us quickly dashed up the steps into the temple. At the other end we saw that perverted Happy Mask Salesman playing the Song of Healing on an organ. Of course, I was expecting him to be the cause behind this…

He halted suddenly in his playing and slowly rose from his seat. He didn't bother turning around.

"You have met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

Our eyes remained glued to the Happy Mask Salesman's back as I cautiously took a step forward.

"Alright Happy Mask Salesman, what's the big idea?! Why did you bring us here?!"

A small and low chuckle escaped from the Happy Mask Salesman's mouth.

"I see you have worked out one part of this little mystery…"

Victoria and I narrowed our eyes at his back.

"By now you should know the truth behind BEN's past, correct? You should have at least some idea as to how he ended up as the blood thirsty entity he is now. But surely, one of you would have suspected my reasons for my actions within each of your dreams"

I sighed heavily. Alright, I'll admit it. I have been very suspicious of the Happy Mask Salesman's motives in Charlie and Hannah's dream. BEN's supposed mother was trying to save him from becoming a part of the Moon Children cult, and yet the Happy Mask Salesman has been so desperate to prevent BEN from escaping him for good. I wanted to know why the Happy Mask Salesman wanted BEN to be a part of the Moon Children cult so badly. The Happy Mask Salesman turned around to face us with a small smirk on his face.

"I thought so…"

We continued to watch cautiously as he walked over to the right side of the temple. He stood in front of a wall that had weird inscriptions on it, ones which we couldn't understand. The wall looked very aged and cracked, having two brightly lit torches on either side of it. It was dim, but still light enough for us to see the weird inscriptions on the wall. The only word I could pick out of it was "BEN". Vikki rubbed her eyes and stared wide eyed at the wall.

"I've seen this before, but… I'm not sure where"

"I'm sure you noticed this wall while you were hanging from a rope above a small pool of water, Victoria. This is the same temple you, Charlie and Hannah were supposed to be sacrificed in"

He slowly turned around to face us with his hands behind his back.

"I think it's time for a little history lesson…"

He pointed one hand towards the wall.

"The inscriptions you see behind me were written by the ancients a long time ago. It tells of a time when the Moon Children will rise to prosperity, under the rule of the great moon Luna. The day and age we are in now will bow down to the might of our power. Unfortunately, most of the writing has faded. That is all we know. But we do have a clue as to who will grant us this power. Only one person can grant us access to such a thing… BEN"

Our eyes widened. So that's why he's been called BEN!

"But how do you know that the BEN you got is the right one?" I questioned.

The Happy Mask Salesman grinned in his perverted way.

"Oh, Luna foretold it of course! The next child born in the moon children cult will bring our cult to prosperity. That is what was foretold. That child was born shortly after; therefore, he is BEN"

Vikki growled.

"How do you know that prophecy is true? A lot of legends have been proved to be lies!"

He smirked.

"Ours is not. I know that"

I frowned. Why is he telling us all this? Then something echoed inside my head.

"…_Beware knowledgeable one, for you shall go the same way your friend did…"_

"Vikki, don't ask any more questions!"

Victoria stared at me surprised. The Happy Mask Salesman looked at me curiously.

"W-Why? How are we gonna get answers if-"

"Exactly, that's my point! He wants us to ask questions! Remember why we were supposed to stay away from him? He's giving us the knowledge willingly because he wants to make us disappear, just like he threatened before!"

Vikki's eyes widened in realisation.

"Oh my god, I didn't realise that…"

The two of us jumped at the sound of clapping. We turned to face the Happy Mask Salesman as he smirked at us evilly.

"Well done Ellie. Although, I'm sorry to say that you shouldn't have done that…"

A familiar round of chuckles sounded behind us. Victoria and I quickly swirled around to find the Moon Children crowded around us, smirking and chuckling amongst themselves. Victoria and I were now back to back. We were trapped. We should have just run away from the temple and tried to find our own way out! I knew it! I knew it!

Our eyes widened at a weird tune sounding around the temple. The Moon Children looked around them in a dazed manner at the sound of the music. Even the Happy Mask Salesman didn't appear to have been expecting that.

"The Lost Woods music… So, she is putting herself out to save her friends?"

"She"? Does he know who is playing this? The Happy Mask Salesman chuckled.

"My, my knowledgeable one, the risks you take are only making things worse... It's a shame BEN doesn't realise that, the poor boy…"

My eyes widened. "Boy"? BEN _was_ human?!

"Go my children, seek out the song of the woods and eradicate the player immediately!"

The Moon Children dashed away from us on all fours out the temple in a small bundle, screeching and sounding high pitched battle cries as they went. The Happy Mask Salesman turned to us, grinning in his perverted way.

"I shall deal with you two another time, but be warned. One wrong move and one of you shall fall into my grasp"

My vision suddenly went black as I fell to the floor dizzily. I heard faint voices around me.

"_We don't know Miss. They both just suddenly collapsed without warning"_

That sounds like Alice.

"_Did they have anything to eat or drink this morning?"_

Is that the receptionist from the Attendance Office?

"_Wait, Ellie's waking up!"_

* * *

Yep, that is definitely Megan. I slowly opened my eyes to a blinding light suddenly flooding into them. When my eyes finally adjusted, I found I was in the Attendance Office and sitting in one of the blue puffy chairs. Alice and Megan were sitting on either side of me, with Alice on my right and Megan on my left. They seemed relieved to find I was awake. Vikki was still unconscious, slumped in the chair on Megan's left. Mrs Hancock, the receptionist at the Attendance Office, came from behind her desk with a small plastic cup of water. She carefully handed it to me, and I mumbled a thank you.

"Are you feeling alright?"

I nodded slowly; however, I wasn't fine at all. I was quite shaken after the events that had just occurred. I heard a groan come from beside Megan. We suddenly looked round to find Victoria coming to. She placed a hand to her head.

"W-Where am I?"

"You're in the Attendance Office Vic" Megan replied, smiling. "You and Ellie fainted and so the teachers on duty brought you here"

"Have you two eaten this morning?" Mrs Hancock asked, curiously. "You might have fainted because you haven't eaten enough, or maybe not drank enough either"

I nodded.

"I did have breakfast this morning"

"As did I" Vikki added, carefully sitting up as Mrs Hancock handed her a cup of water.

"Well, I've called your parents to come and pick the two of you up. The teachers feel that you both should go home and rest, just in case it is anything serious. Is this the first time that you both have had these dizzy spells?"

We both nodded slowly. Mrs Hancock then left the room to go and sort out our sign out slips. Mrs Hancock was also one of the first aiders in this school, which is why we were in the Attendance Office. Just thought I'd clear up any confusion you guys might have.

"How long were we out for?" I questioned, concerned.

"Only for five minutes" Alice answered quietly. "It wasn't that long"

Five minutes? I'm sure we were stuck in the dream for longer than that…

"Did you guys have any weird dreams to do with the Happy Mask Salesman?" Megan asked.

"Yes, but we'll explain to you guys later what it was about. Ellie and I are still trying to digest what happened" Victoria replied, taking deep breaths.

"Where is everyone else?" I suddenly asked, changing the subject.

"They were sent back to lesson. The teachers only allowed two of us to stay, so Alice and I remained behind to make sure you were both ok"

"But we found something suspicious just a moment ago" Alice added. "When Mrs Hancock left the room to go and get you two a cup of water, Megan and I had a look at the register on her computer which she had left up for the whole year group. Emily is no longer on it"

Mine and Vikki's eyes widened simultaneously.

"Her name is not on there?" Vikki repeated, shocked.

"It's not" Megan replied solemnly. "And when we questioned her about it, she said she didn't know who Emily was. Not even Vikki's form tutors remember Emily being in the same form as Vikki. It's as if people have forgotten who she is"

"This is BEN's doing. It has to be. He's done this so no one is suspicious of her disappearance"

"Yeah, I agree with Vikki" Alice agreed. "I can see this is getting way out of hand. The closer one of us is to the truth, the more dangerous things get"

"Did anything else happen while we were out?" I questioned.

"No, that was the only thing we could find out"

Then Mrs Hancock quickly came back into the room, so we all remained silent for a bit. That is until Megan managed to start a conversation on something else. All of this is just… I don't know what to say. It's freaky, it's frightening… At least I'm glad to know that my parents are at home, so I won't be on my own. I'll talk to Alice tonight over the phone about what happened. But there is one thing that is still bugging me. Who was the person that played the Lost Woods song that the Happy Mask Salesman was talking about?

* * *

**Emily's POV**

After making sure that Victoria and Ellie had finally disappeared from the dream and that the Happy Mask Salesman had left, I quickly dashed into the temple while still holding the Ocarina in my hands. Yes, that was me playing the Lost Woods song! I saw the sneak attack that the Happy Mask Salesman had pulled on Vikki and Ellie, and decided to step in. BEN hasn't been around lately, which has raised suspicions a little. I do not fully trust him as much anymore, just in case he is betraying me and will eventually take my life on the spot.

I approached the temple wall slowly, and gently placed a hand onto it curiously. I gently brushed my hand across the surface, drawing out the inscription shapes with my fingers inside the dents where they were supposed to be. I recognised the inscriptions. It was written in Hylian, made up completely from Nintendo for the purpose of The Legend of Zelda series.

My fingers halted at one particular spot on the wall where "BEN" had been carved into it. This is what confused me. Everything else was written in Hylian, which is a made up language. This isn't real. And everything else is written in Hylian except for "BEN", which is in capital letters. Just like on the starting screen of the game. I have a feeling that the Father is up to something. He's hiding something much more sinister than I originally thought.

I know for a fact that this expands further than the Majora's Mask game now. It has to. Luna and the Moon Children don't exist in the game, and the game's only connection with BEN is that he played it at some stage. Is this all a cover up of something bigger?

"You need to learn that meddling with prophecies will get you nowhere, knowledgeable one…"

I slowly turned around to see the Happy Mask Salesman standing in front of the only exit to the temple, which was also the way I came in. I wasn't surprised that he was there. I folded my arms stubbornly.

"So you knew it was me did you? Seems you aren't as stupid as I originally thought"

He replied with a perverted smirk.

"Do you really think that you can win this war?"

"If it means protecting my friends from your perverted ways, then yes"

"You are taking on a force that is much greater than you"

"I am fully aware of that"

"Yet you continue to pursue the truth. What is giving you such persistence to fight in a war that wasn't anything to do with you to begin with?"

I clenched my fists.

"The minute I disappeared and was locked away here was when I was made involved in all of this. You trying to get hold of me made me involved. I'm fighting for my life, while fighting for a way out of here, and the truth behind BEN altogether. I don't know whose side BEN is on; however I do know one thing. I will get to the truth, even if I die soon after discovering it!"

The Happy Mask Salesman chuckled.

"Such wise words from one so young"

I smirked.

"They are not wise. They are just what I think of all this. You may call me the "Knowledgeable one", yet you and I both know that there are probably more people on Within Hubris that know more than me"

"Ah, but you have seen things which they haven't; therefore, you know more"

"But how am I supposed to know if what I saw was the truth? It could be lies. It could all be part of your plan of deception, but it is the only thing I have to go on"

He smirked.

"This is why you excel your friends…"

"I know more about BEN Drowned than they do. I've known about it longer than they have. I don't excel them for that reason. They are just as smart to see through your words and read between the lines"

The Happy Mask Salesman let out an evil laugh. Ok seriously, he's a creep! Isn't he? He's a creep, isn't he? You can tell!

"All eight of you dare to cross the line, yet you don't know all the facts, and when all else fails a voice will echo: _you shouldn't have done that…"_

With a click of his fingers, the Happy Mask Salesman was gone in a small puff of smoke. Great, another riddle! I'm guessing by the sentence "cross the line", he means both me and them are taking risks out of our safe zones. He knows something is going to happen. And one of us is going to be the cause.

Next thing I knew, a green light had surrounded me. Oh crap, I've been found… BEN has returned. I have a feeling he won't like what I've been doing.

* * *

**Megan's POV**

Victoria and Ellie explained to us of their experience in the dream with the Happy Mask Salesman, and spoke of a prophecy in which they were heavily guided by. I had tried to search up on Wiki about this; however it mentioned nothing but about them worshipping Luna. So we had discovered something which no one else knew of. Yet, why did the Happy Mask Salesman reveal this to them, knowing full well they'd tell us as soon as they escaped?

After that incident had occurred, we all knew we needed to act fast. So we split up into our assigned groups and searched for as many songs as possible from the Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask games. Luckily for me, I had played Ocarina of Time when I was quite young, which used to belong to my sister, so I knew most of the songs off there. As for Majora's Mask, we had to do some research up about that, but found that the songs from Ocarina of Time were also in Majora's mask. That was to be expected, considering it was the sequel to that game.

Alice organised a sleepover soon after we had done our research, since she said that Charlie, Charlotte, Hannah, and her had found a song which they think would open the portal, based off what Emily had said to us a while ago.

So we all arrived at Alice's at around 6o'clock on Saturday night. Of course since it was a sleepover, we had a bit of fun first. Straight away we got into a bit of a pillow fight, ate something, and then watched a film. We decided to wait until Alice's parents had gone to bed before we started the test. We hadn't bothered getting changed into our pyjamas yet, just in case our crazy idea did work.

* * *

Hannah stood with her ear against the door, since she said she had heard footsteps heading upstairs (We were down in the living room by the way, since Alice's room wasn't big enough to get everyone in there). We waited silently for the footsteps to die down, and the sound of the bedroom door to close, before Hannah gave us a thumb up. Alice began loading up her laptop.

"By the way, you guys didn't tell us what song you'd found" Ellie commented, sitting on the arm of the sofa.

"Well, we decided to use the Song of Unhealing with lyrics" Charlotte yawned, resting her head on Charlie's shoulder tiredly.

They were sitting on the floor in front of the arm chair. Ellie and Victoria became quite alarmed.

"The Song of Unhealing? But Emily warned us not to in case something bad happens!" Victoria protested, sitting up a little on the sofa.

"Well, Emily did say that was how she entered BEN's world in the first place, so we must need the lyrics to be able to open it" Hannah replied casually, walking back towards the rest of us and sitting down beside Alice.

"Are you sure we should use this song?" I pressed concerned. "I mean, this has trouble written all over it, and if Emily thinks the song is dangerous, then it must be"

"But it could also be their weakness. We don't know until we try, right?" Alice shrugged, typing into the YouTube search bar.

"Look, I can understand your concern, but we have to try all possibilities" Charlie added. "As I already said, we can't stay in the safe zone forever. The only way to get Emily back is to be ambitious and try to reach her. This is one of the songs that we can use, so we have to try it and give it a one shot. Besides, if something starts to go wrong we can turn it off"

Ellie, Victoria and I all remained silent. Charlie made a valid point, a point in which we couldn't argue with. As soon as Alice found the video, she pushed her laptop as far as she could to the other end of the room. We sat as far as away from it as possible, all holding hands tightly. We had made sure to turn every single electric thing in the room off so no accidents were caused, even going as far as to unplug it.

"Well, this is it…." Hannah stated, gulping a little.

"Let's just hope this works!" Victoria added.

I'd noticed that she seemed a bit off about all of this. Maybe it was because she was nervous. I wasn't quite sure…

"Are you guys ready?" Alice asked.

As soon as we gave Alice the signal, which was a stiff nod, she clicked on the video and quickly dashed back to us, grabbing hold of Ellie's hand tightly.

The music began to play. The voice was recognisable. It was the same Vocaloid that had sang the Song of Healing, Oliver I think his name was, but of course it was in reverse. The picture that appeared on the screen from the video was a sketch impression of him in pain. He covered his bandaged eye with one hand, and appeared to be crying. The picture was very off putting.

Straight away I sensed a disturbance in the atmosphere around us. Creepy childish laughter could be heard, and I swear I saw the shadows in the room beginning to move. I began to panic. I could feel Charlotte beside me, trembling a little. She didn't like it either.

"A-Alice, I think we should turn it off…" Ellie suggested.

I could hear her voice was slightly shaky. Alice quickly stood up and dashed towards her laptop to turn it off; however, the video wouldn't stop playing. It froze, and the music continued to repeat itself over and over. It was becoming unbearable to listen to. I felt a sharp pain run through my arms and legs. Alice fell to the floor near the laptop, clutching her legs and closing her eyes tightly. Charlotte was shaking horridly now, but I couldn't see what she was doing. Suddenly a small bloodied message came up on the screen.

"_You shouldn't have done that…"_

The voice echoed around the room in a cold and spine chilling tone as it read the words that had appeared on the laptop. And that was when the laptop shut itself off. We all shrieked loudly, but then remembered Alice's parents were sleeping so quickly shut up soon after. The song had stopped dead at the end. The lyrics had been almost like it was in another language, but were sung just as soft as the Song of Healing lyrics. The music sounded like a strangled violin.

We all remained silent soon after, the only sound being that of our heavy breathing. I was still in pain, but it wasn't as bad now. I heard Alice get up and start stumbling around.

"Hang on. I brought a torch down with me somewhere…"

After a few seconds of waiting, a light suddenly flashed which revealed Alice's face. She shone the torch around the five of us sat at the back of the room, really shaken from the following events that had occurred. I noticed Alice frowning as she looked over me, Charlotte and Ellie. Then she shone the torch on her own arms. My eyes widened. There was blood covering her arms. She yelped in fright, flinging the torch into Hannah's lap. I quickly glanced down at my own arms to find they were covered in blood too. It was a sickening sight. And then, the next thing that Charlie said sent every single one of us into a state of panic.

"Oh god, what have we done…?!"

* * *

**Emily's POV**

I sensed there was something horridly off the minute I was brought back in front of the monitor. Standing in front of me was the Elegy of Emptiness statue, something I thought wouldn't have appeared here since BEN floated around me without a body anyway. I noticed its eyes were glowing red. That isn't supposed to happen…

I cautiously took a step forward.

"BEN, are you alright?"

No answer. I found myself becoming slightly scared now. Something was off. I just knew it. I took a few more steps forward. The statue did nothing. It just stared at me with its perverted smile.

"BEN?"

Still nothing. I glanced behind me at the screen to find it suddenly start to glow red. Ok. This is getting creepy. If BEN is playing games with me because I wandered off without him knowing, this is taking it too far!

The statue suddenly appeared right in front of me and began laughing evilly. I yelped in fright and quickly back stepped. The sound was definitely a young boy's laughter. The following words then sent me into a complete and utter dizzy state of darkness.

"All eight of you dare to cross the line, yet you don't know all the facts, and when all else fails a voice will echo: _you shouldn't have done that…_"


End file.
